THE HOSPITAL MEDICAL STAFF' QUESTION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8558, 17 October 1907, Page 5

THE HOSPITAL MEDICAL STAFF' QUESTION.

(To the Editor.) Sir,—At a meeting of the Master--ton Friendly Societies' Council, held on Monday, October 14th, the following motion was brought forward —"That in the opinion of this. Council it is desirable that Drs. Cook and Cowie be placed on the active medical staff of the Masterton Hospital." The motion was supported by every delegate present, representing every lodge in Masterton (acting on instructions received from their respective Societies), and was carried unanimously. A deputation, comprised of one delegate from each, affiliated Society, was then appointed to wait on the Hospital Trustees attheir meeting on Wednesday, October lGth, and urge upon them the necessity, from the Friendly Societies' point of view, of the adop< tion of this course. The deputation duly waited on the Trustees, and were accorded a respectful hearing. They were afterwards informed, per medium of the press, that after consideration the Trustees had failed to see the advisability of placing these two medical gentlemen on the active staff, considering that arrangements as at present obtaining were the best in the interests of the community. The Friendly 'Societies' Council, therefore, desire, to place hefore the public their reasons for the action they took in the natter. There is in Masterton at the present time a total Friendly Society membership, in round numbers, of 700. When these members wives' and families are taken into consideration, it means that there are at least 2,500 persons affected directly by the operations of Friendly Societies. Of the 700 members mentioned above, fully 50 per cent., or 350 of them, are on the medical lists of Drs Cook and Cowie, which, with their families, means, that these two doctors have 1,200 Friendly Society patients in their care. Now, as present Hospital arrangements are, these two gentlemen, being only on the honorary staff of the institution, have the right to send patients to the Hospital when necessary, but once there, they. are not allowed to treat those patients further until their discharge. It stands to reason that when a person is ill and under the treatment of a doctor, he would naturally object to undergoing treatment by another doctor, provided he is satisfied with his own medical man, and it is on behalf of those 1,200 people who are liable at any time to hi placed in that position that the Friendly Societies' Council is endeavouring to have Drs. Cook and Cowie placed on an equal footing, where the Hospital is concerned, with Drs. Hosking and Ross. Fully 90 per cent, of Friendly Society members are working men, who would not be in a position, should the necessity arise, of affording the cost of treatment in a private hospital, and we take it that a public hospital is established mainly for' the benefit of people in this position, but if the Masterton Hospital Trustees, in wisdom, think it unwise to allow two doctors to attend any of their patients there, its value as a pubic institution must be seriously handicapped. In the light of the foregoing facts', which were placed before the Trustees fully by the deputation, it would be interesting for the public to learn just what were their reasons for refusing to accede to the wishes of the deputation.- -I am, etc , S. DEUGARDE, Sec. Masterton F.S. Council. Masterton, October 16th, 1907.