TRAVELLING CLINICS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21200, 24 August 1940, Page 9

TRAVELLING CLINICS

TREATMENT FOR CRIPPLES HEALTH DIRECTOR’S OPINION (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Friday The relative merits of travelling clinics and an orthopaedic hospital in Wellington were discussed at the annual conference of the New Zealand Crippled Children Society yesterday. The chairman of the executive, Mr F. Campbell, mentioned discussions which had been held with the Director-General of Health, Dr. M. H. Watt, who had suggested the appointment of orthopaedic specialists as inspectors to the Health Department to attend clinics specially for hospital boards and branches of the society. The war and the consequent shortage of suitably-trained men had held up the scheme, he said, but it was hoped to have it gone on with at some early date. Mr Malcolm Fraser said Dr. Watt's view was that it was quite useless at present urging the erection of a special hospital. He strongly favoured travelling clinics. The weakness of the scheme was that a travelling expert had no status when he went into a hospital board’s district and Dr. Watt had suggested that these men should be made inspectors under the Health Act, which would give them the necessary authority. Mrs Knox Gilmer said she was not atagonistic to travelling clinics, but already there were many children not able to get into base hospitals and many more to be found. Was it right that these children should be denied the attention they could get from a'n orthopaedic surgeon at any of tlie main base hospitals ? Mr Campbell: This society has never been against orthopaedic hospitals. What we did fight against was the spending of the New Zealand society’s money for an orthopaedic hospital in Wellington.