NIGHT MEDICAL SERVICE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 124, 28 May 1942, Page 6

NIGHT MEDICAL SERVICE

U/HATKVKR may be the outcome of the dispute between the Minister ot Health and the B.M.A. concerning fees payable for night medical service it must not. be such as to jeopardise the continuance of the service. Experience so far lias shown that the number of calls on the service is on the average not m< re than six per night—a surprisingly small number. explicable In part bv the willingness of doctors to visit their own patients—hut. its value to the six, and to other people who know that it Is available if the need should arise, is hardly to be measured In terms of monev. Moreover, those people who, needing attention at night, have found their own doctor willing to come, may not be so fortunate in later emergencies. A service that reduces or abolishes the delay and unceitainty which lor some people have been associated with calls for medical attention at night is essential, and the fact that the demand on it has been lighter than expected is no reason for discontinuing it. It. is precisely the people who are not well known to doctors possibly through never having had reason to consult a doctor in Auckland. whose need of the service is likely to be greatest. Experience to date suggests that the Hospital Board could bv itself continue the service and so obviate the friction between the Minister and the B M A