DOCTORS’ FEES AND DRUGS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 104, 15 February 1950, Page 4

DOCTORS’ FEES AND DRUGS

SUGGESTED PAYMENT BY PATIENTS VIEWS OF B.M.A. PRESIDENT (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 14. Until there was some monetary obligation on the part of the patient for medicine or medical attention, the cost of New Zealand’s general medical services and pharmaceutical benefits would continue to rise, said Mr E. H. M. Luke, in his inaugural address as president of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association this evening. It was generally recognised, he said, that nothing was appreciated fully if it came too easily and was not striven for. This applied to medical attention and even to a bottle of medicine. “I personally believe—and I think most of my colleagues do—that the patient, if he can afford it, should pay a proportion of his medical fees, whether for consultation with the doctor or for the medicine he obtains from his chemist,” said Mr Luke. ; He traced the evolution of what he called “the present trend of control of medical practice.” Patients, he said, were becoming more and more healthconscious. Deeply ingrained in the nature of most patients was a desire and hope that they could be cured by drugs or medicine rather than by more tedious treatment or by operation. The pressure on doctors to write prescriptions was continuous. Effect of Modern Education

It might be said that to-day’s patient was more health-conscious because ho was better educated, continued Mr Luke. This education began from infancy, when self-expression was encouraged in the child, and when th 6 non-correction of misdemeanours was permitted. These children were most difficult to treat, and it required the utmost restraint and patience on the doctors’ part not to use “a birth of his own self-expression on the bare posterior of a spoilt child.” “However,” he said, “such is the trend of modern education, and we must accept the problems that arise out of it. There is one great, and it may be grave, problem that I consider does arise out of it, and out of too easy and ready an appeal to the benign State. It is the demand by the patient for relief of minor disorders, minor pains, and minor sleeplessness.” People went to their doctors without incurring any great expense and told their story. Naturally or consciously they magnified their symptoms and demanded a remedy. Reports were published that too many drugs were being presented ,and that this was the doctor’s fault.

“Misapplied Knowledge” "Let me assure you that it is the fault of misapplied knowledge,” said Mr Luke. “It is the fault of our tendency to demand assistance in adversity and the negation of the strong pioneering instinct and courage of our forefathers, who 'stood on their own feet. “Let us not become a nation of faddists, neurotics, and hypochondriacs,” he said. “Free, or substantially free, medical service is becoming available in practically all countries of the world, but pray it may never be compulsory or handed out on the conveyor belt. Our people must have the right to consult the doctor who appeals to them, for he can usually do them most good or direct them to someone who will best resolve their problems.” .