SUPPLY OF DOCTORS

Waikato Times, Volume 116, Issue 19364, 18 September 1934, Page 6

SUPPLY OF DOCTORS

WAIKATO COMPLAINT. MEDICAL SCHOOL VIEW. EFFECTIVE TRAINING OF MEN. (Special to Times.) DUNEDIN, Monday. Complaints made at a meeting of the Waikato Hospital Board regarding a shortage of doctor.,, and a remark by a member that students are not being accepted by the Medical School at Dunedin because the authorities claimed that there were too many trained doctors in New Zealand for the work available, were referred to Dr. C. E. Ilercus, Sub-Dean of the Medical Faculty. He staled that the statement did not accurately represent the position. The authorities at the Medical School, he pointed out, were not primarily concerned with the needs of the Dominion in the matter of a supply of doctors, but their main objective was the effective training of men who went through the school. That could only be done when the numbers coming forward preserved a more or less uniform level. As a result of somewhat violent fluctuations in numbers during recent years an abnormal position had arisen, and it was with a view to discussing the matter in all its bearings that a subcommittee of the Senate of the University of New Zealand was at present visiting Dunedin. Danger of Dislocation. Dr. Hercus went on to say that if the level of graduates could be kept at between 50 and 55 per year efficient results from the point of view of producing well-trained doctors could be obtained; but as soon as there was a marked reduction or increase of that number dislocation was the result. When the number fell to 30 or 35, as had been the case in recent years, the dislocation was revealed in a shortage of house-surgeons, and when the number rose above what might be considered the normal level, a prejudicial effect was likely to be experienced in the efficiency of the training. Another authority to whom the matter was referred stated that the requirements of the Hospital Boards of the Dominion in respect of housesurgeons were out of all proportion to the population demands, and though there were many channels of absorption, difficulty would undoubtedly arise in placing all the men whom the Hospital Boards desired to employ. So many of the smaller Hospital Boards were now wanting housesurgeons that the supply was not sufficient to go round, and if enough men were turned out to fill all the positions, they would at a later date find themselves stranded. Opportunities Restricted. “The prospects of making a living in the Dominion are not too bright now,” he remarked. “The population has reached a more or less stable basis, and opportunities for practice are restricted.”