NEW METHOD OF MEDICAL GRADING

Chronicle (Levin), 21 December 1949, Page 7

NEW METHOD OF MEDICAL GRADING

Press Associationj

18-year-old Soldiers To Register Next Month

(Per

WELLINGTON , Dec. 20.. Young men liable for cdmpulsofy niilitary s sefvice b egiri '^egisteriug. on January 9. It "Is expbfe'ted' the". iirst medicaJ boards'will be called befdre the eild of January. - ,The reeruits wiiJ b'e examined u'nder the Pulheems system, which ' is sald to assess a man's wortli as a soJdier' from ail angles, physicaJ and psy'chological, and to be much more effective than the rigid medicaJ stabdar'ds hithertd ernployed. • The Deeember issue of the N.Z. MedicaJ Journal repofts that the NationaJ Medical (Jommittee will submit to the Minister of Labour and Employment Iists of doetors acquainted with the Pulheems system who are willing to serve on medical boards. As many medical praetitionefs as possible are urged to acquaint themselves with the system and thus make themselves availabJe for boarding. There are Army medical offieers with a full knowledge of the system in all divisions. In a paper read to offieers of the JRoyal N"ew Zealand Medical Corps at Burnham this year, published in the Medical Journal, Dr. T. D. M. Stout, Wellington, warns against rejecting candidates who fail to measure up to too rigid medical requirements. "Give rne the man with the proper spirit to endure, no matter what, with j in reason, his defect, and you can have the perfect physicaJ specimen, without a blemish, bnt with a psyckoJogically unstable personality," said Dr. Stout. He feels it a pitv reeruits eannot be chosen after some time in camp under army conditions. Dr. Stout discounts many of the •standards set in the recent war. He quotes the rejection of reeruits in the 19-year-old class in 1942-43. Out of --00 rejects 400 were for defective vision. More Than Snipers. "I feel this is surely anomalous and unrealistic. It seems to envisage the army as a body of snipers. Tf a man is otherwise tit, and can carry on his ordinary life, surelv he can make a soldier even if he has a moderate degree of myopia or astigmatism. " He thinks the skin specialist is apt

to magnify the importance of small but. tiresoine disabilities. Varicose veins as a rule were found t'o give littlo functiohal disturbance. From the Army point of "view ahy varicose veins that need treatmeht demand operative treat- ] ment, and any veins that are of lesser degree can be ignored. ; , Of the soldier-'s f'oot, Dr. Stout 'writes: "It is remarkable how men can get along satisfaetorily with all sorts of shapes of feet. The expression 'flat feet' is unfortunate. You merely have to observe the foot of the ballet dancer pand the foot of the native to see' that . flatness is no disability. " Later he goes on: " As far as the recruit is concerned _we" need only consider the rigid foot as abnormal and likely to cause disabil'.y, and we can forget about flat feet." Apart from gross defects, the main point in the c-hoice of a recruit was his psychological backgrbund, »as that. was what finally determined his value as a soJdier. On training the recruit, Dr Stoul warns about the harm which may be' done by" rushing the feebler men. "The! medical officer must size up his men | and be responsible for the gra'duation i of their phvsical training." No Sick Parade? Later. ""Then there is the early morning execise before breakfast, and the early sick parade also for men temporarily unflt. Both these proc.edu res are unnecessarv and undesirable. " He thinks it would be a pitv if 18 year-olds were culled too deeply. "There should be a very small percentage incapable of being trained in some branch of the services and toi j whom the training should no^ be beneficial, " is his eomreent. "From the na tional point of view it might almost seein that the less lit men should have a longer period in camp so as to bring them up as much as possible to the standard of the others. " Reports from the last war tended to sliow reeruits deemed helow standard at their original medieal examination did just as well as those who passed as