TRAINING OF DOCTORS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24899, 12 June 1946, Page 5

TRAINING OF DOCTORS

CHAIR OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY CAMPAIGN TO BE HELD IN CHRISTCHURCH “The health and future well-being of mothers and children is of paramount importance to our country and we must ensure that general practitioners are given sufficient training in maternity work,” said Mr J. T. R. Oliver when he spoke at a luncheon meeting of the Christchurch Rotary Club yesterday. Mr Oliver, who explained details of the Dominion-wide campaign for funds for the establishment of a chair in obstetrics and gynaecology, under the control of the Senate of the University of New Zealand, is organiser of the Auckland Businessmen’s Committee which has conducted the appeal. The movement had been suggested by Dr.. Doris Gordon, Director of Maternal and Infant Welfare, and had been taken up by the Rotary Club in Auckland, said Mr Oliver. A committee had been formed, and it was decided that an objective of £lOO,OOO should be sought. “Maternity training is one of the great needs confronting the country today,” c6ntinued Mr Oliver. “It is recognised that the training of medics 1 students in the Dominion is as good as anywhere in the world, but there is no opportunity for post-graduate work in obstetrics and gynaecology. Numbers of doctors have gone overseas for specialised research work but unfortunately many of them have not returned. Now, even that field of specialised training is closed, as Great Britain has asked New Zealand not to send further students for post-graduate work.

“At present 10 per cent, of marriages in the Dominion are unproductive, and it has been established on reliable authority that that figure could be decreased by more than one half if there were facilities available for the study which is suggested.” The Government had decided to build a new women’s hospital at Auckland, and it was proposed that a professor of world-wide standing should be placed in charge there, he said. Money which was raised would be paid into a trust fund and handed to the University of New Zealand for the establishment and maintenance of the chair. Professor Sir William Shaw, a past president of the Royal Gynaecology Society, London, would arrive in New Zealand in September to assist the Government with plants for the hospital, and his assistance would be sought by the committee organising the appeal. The campaign had been highly successful so far, and committees had been established in various centres of the North Island. About £70.000 was in sight, and of that total £52.500 had been contributed in Auckland city. Local bodies and business organisations had been generous, and women’s organisations had raised more than £ 13.000, Mr Oliver added that in Te Aroha, which had a population of 2500, a total of £1521 had been raised within six weeks. . “Although the movement emanated from Auckland, the whole thing is now on a national basis, and that is only right because mothers and children throughout the Dominion will benefit," said Mr Oliver. “I am quite satisfied that there is a spirit of co-operation abroad in Christchurch and other South Island centres, and I hope that local committees will be formed.” The club decided that it would consult other organisations and form a committee in Christchurch to sponsor the appeal.