THE TIMARU HOSPITAL.
The correspondent who writes, to us this morning on the question of' out-patients' at the. Timaru. Hospital takes up a novel and rather embarrassing standpoint. Everyone who has come in- contact -with Dr. Unwin will agree with our corespondent in regarding him as an prnament to the medical profession, but we are afraid that the doctor himself will' resent this enthusiastic testimonial to his ability, and he will, we think,, be one of the first to do justice, to the skill of the medical gentlemen who gratuitously assist him in carrying on the work of the hospital. But However high an opinion the public may have formed of the resident surgeon's qualifications, we do not know, that the Hospital Board could fall in with our correspondent's contention that the services of their medical officer should be at the disposal of the •whole community, ev.en if would-be patients were willing to pay adequate fees for the benefit of -his advice.' The Board have already, tried the experiment in another shape, 'and the result was not entirely satisfactory. For a time they allowed their resident surgeon the right of private practice, but evidently they found that the best interests of she hospital were not met by this arrangement, and when Dr. Unwin was- appointed, the right of private practice was specifically withheld, on the ground, if we' remember rightly, that the're was enough work in the hospital to absorb the energies of the resident surgeon. Our correspondent's.suggestion differs from the Board's experiment only in the fact that under his proposal the fees from outside patients would go to the Board instead of to the doctor, and also, we suppose, in the likelihood that the Board's surgeon could be consulted only at the hospital, instead of t being liable to a call from some distance. But in any case the* result would, on i the authority of our correspondent's opinion, be a large increase in the resident surgeon's work, which even now appears to be enough for one man, and as the Board's concern is solely with the hospital, they could scarcely entertain our correspondent's suggestion that they should cater for the well-to-do public, to the possible detriment of the institution under their care.
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Bibliographic details
Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12978, 18 May 1906, Page 4
Word Count
374THE TIMARU HOSPITAL. Timaru Herald, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 12978, 18 May 1906, Page 4
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