MEDICAL SCHEME

Waikato Times, Volume 129, Issue 21525, 13 September 1941, Page 6

MEDICAL SCHEME

GROUNDS OF OPPOSITION SOUTH AUCKLAND DOCTORS UNANIMITY REPORTED FREEDOM ISSUE EMPHASISED A decision to oppose the operation of the medical practitioner proposals under the Social Security Amendment Bill was reached at a well-attended meeting of the South Auckland Division of the New Zealand Branch of the British. Medical Association held in Hamilton. The meeting was unanimous in its decision. The principal grounds of opposition were stated to be:— (1) That the scheme interferes with the freedom of the individual, both patient and doctor. (2) That it would lead to a deterioration in the standard of medical services for the people. In an interview a spokesman for the Division, in the absence of the president, Dr. S. H. Hay, of Rotorua, said these two points had been stated several times, but it seemed that the public and Parliament were unable to comprehend them or to believe them. The medical profession, with a close knowledge of the facts, was unconvinced of the general merits of the scheme In fact, it took the view that the scheme was impracticable of operation on a basis at all beneficial to either party. Patient’s Freedom The proposed legislation interfered , with the patient’s freedom in many j ways, he said. Each visit, consultation, or act of service would no longer !be confidential, but might be scrutin- [ ised by officials armed with the power :to decide, after the event, if a visit lor a consultation were necessary or i unnecessary. If it were ruled that the I visit was unnecessary the patient ! himself would be liable for the fee. The right to enter into an individual arrangement with his doctor would be denied to the patient.

Another point was that the bill was very limited in its scope, and any service beyond what was implied by the bill would still have to be paid for by the patient. The Minister of Health had made much of what he claimed would be a considerable increase in the aggregate income of nearly all the medical men, but conceding this point, it must occasion food for deep thought as to just why the doctors opposed the scheme. Setting, as it did, no value on the standard of achievement required from the practitioners beyond the bare minimum of professional skill and attention, this scheme reduced all practitioners, whatever their experience, to the same level. Radical Alteration Needed The South Auckland Division therefore expressed its strong disapproval of the State scheme, as at present outlined, said the spokesman. He added that the scheme needed radical alteration before it would be acceptable, and if the Government were sincere it would make these alterations before the bill became law. Administration by regulation was repugnant in other legislative measures, and it was equally repugnant in this. The spokesman said it was obvious that calls on the doctors would increase if there were no restriction or limitation, resulting in less time being available for each patient to be examined or studied. There would thus be a loss of efficiency, a thing to be zealously guarded against. The legislation provided for filling in a mass of forms, even more than was the case today, when the Social Security Act capitation system, of cards, and the district scheme for medical men in outlying areas were in operation. It was intended, it should be noted, that both these schemes would be continued alongside the new one. Doctors Serving Overseas One other point on which the Division felt strongly, and it was in this respect fully in accord with the attitude of other Divisions, was the scant recognition given to the medical men who had gone abroad with the fighting forces. Their number was nearly a fourth of the total registered medical practitioners in the Dominion. Yet they were allowed no say in the legislation. That was regarded as manifestly unfair. One of the fundamental principles of the British Medical Association was that any service introduced should be better than the one it was displacing. But the proposed Government scheme was definitely inferior to the existing service. If there were no improvement under the new Act. it was pertinent to ask why the insistence upon it ? The British Medical Association had tried to improve its service to patients, and there had been steady but definite improvement; but that would vanish under the new scheme.