DOCTORS & THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2512, 13 July 1915, Page 7

DOCTORS & THE WAR

ORGANISATION SCHEMES

FOR CARE OP SICK & WOUNDED JNTERVIEW'WITH MINISTERS VIEWS,OF MEDICAL MEN

Relations between the British Medical Association and tho Defence authorities were discussed yesterday by a deputation representing tho Wellington: branoh of the association which waited on the Defence Minister and tho Hon. R. H." Rhodes. Following were the members of the deputation: Dr. J: S. Elliott, president of the B.M.A.', Dr. Gibbs, seoretary, Dr. Christie, and Dr. Giesen. : : -

Dr. Elliott stated that the deputation represented, a number of medical men yfio wished toi help the.Defence authorities, and to .know what was wanted of them. .Personally 'he would nottake part in. the speeches as ho was a Territorial } officer^ Dr.. Gibbs said that the medical men , . throughout the Miuntrywero at sixes and sevens about what- was required of them. They ■ knew nothing definite or clear on. the; subject, in . fact, any . information ' they got. seemed to bo immediately contradicted in some way or other. They ' felt,''however, that, they wanted to help, tat thef had great difficulty in doing so. The British Medical Association ihad the organisation throughout the country. Its members were willing to help, and they iwished the .Minister to ask for their adThe deputation jwould like to know if provision had been made for the staffing, ot the places offered las convalescent- homes.. The deputation •believed that the.measles hospital at Kaiiwarra and Berhampore were inadequately staffed. He had heard of relatives sitting round the death-bed of a sick soldier at Berhampore. and commenting on t'iio■ fact that there was no medical man in- attendance. 'He thought it, .was not eafe >• for, the • ■ Department - to depend upon the daily visit of : a medical man, 7 from Trentham.

; Attendance 011 / convalescent. . men ■I -illboardinghouses wasalready a . big' ljurden iipoa over-worbed practitioners, wlio had been, looking after these men and men in private homes. Mr. Allen: Do "they attend them voluntarily? Dr.Gibbs: We have to. We don't know whether we wiU get.the money. COntinu- ■ ' ing, ;.he said, that the call for 100 medical men for England was being responded to, and now it seemed that doctors were forbidden to leave the country. .The Hospital at Trentham Concerning the hospital at Trentham, the profession had pressed for the estab- • lishment of sucli a hospital as an urgent r matte. The'only question that arose was as 'to ' whether -it ■ should be done by ! voluntary subscription, or aa •to whether the Government should do, it. They* had v never-had.any doubt about the need for ' it. - They felt that the present 1 trouble ■had arisen- because their/wishes had not been listened to and acted upon. If the nucleus .of a'hospitaL had been established there, however incomplete it might - have , been in respect to the present' epidemic, it could, have been extended and developed', and'those earlier cases could have been dealt with, and the' epidemic prevented.: from spreading as it had. If the authorities haddeclared against buildhospital, then the association could have helped to provide motor ambulances fo. carry the sick into toivn more speedily . than was now possible with. the one or two ambulances available. • •

'■>\ About .. ■ tho-' staffing of the em'crg- ; enoy'hospitals'Tomid abou'tl'her Cityy he would suggest that an arrangement similar to ;that in force at Home ought to be adopted. There they, had both tho Royal . Amp/Medical - Corpi, whicii;was.a per--xnarient body, and the Territorial Medical Service, which was subsidia<y. Here, when* tho war began; there were'no permanent military, or medical officers. ' Mr.Allen: We. have .our Army. Medical Service. -■'■ Dr.- Gibbs; But t'hey are' in a different category from the Royal Army Medical Corps.", At Home, when the war* broke out' the; Territorial medical. officers were a& Borbed, into the Army, ■arid the doctors were given Army pay -and Army conditions. He would .'suggest that here the Territorial' Medical-force, should be aug- > 'iiented and extended in- tho samo way, the doctors' being given Tank and pay.. Mr. Allen: Will they give us the whole 'of their time if we pay them? . .. , ■ Dr. .Gibbs: No, part time. But that . Is on tho same plan as at Home. Ha . would suggest also, he'said, that honorary, rank should, be given to those doctors who i cannot: join the. Territorial Force either •SemEorarily or permanently. ■ ' v.: - ; -1-'■ ■ ' V' ' - Anxious to Help, ' Dr. Christie said ho wished to emphasise', the fact- that they were offering to . help. - There was a general feeling among civilian practitioners that . they : wished ' to do, somdthing, and they thought that thing's should be systematized. With regard to the care of returned soldiers who require' hospital treatment, he would suggest that it-he same thing might be done ■here as had been done at- Home—base ' hospitals had • been established, all over -England and Ireland. These were staffed by. mcdical officers, who gave part of their time to the work. These men belonged to what was known as the Territorial Reserve, which had been in existence for some years. On the outbreak of war. they were called up, :and 'now: they had Army rank and Army pay. It seemed to him that if civilian, practitioners wcro to bo of service here they must be given Ann}" rank, in order /that they . might keep discipline in the hospitals.; Ho would' also suggest that instead'of havingithe sick: men e'oattered about In small buildings—kiosksand the like—tare and there, ithe, thing' should' be centralised into one big. institution. . If .this weTe done, a smaller'staff could bs used, the expense of imnning would be lew, and the records would be all in one place.' The staff should have the pay of their ra,nk. > One medical officer coming in from Trentham and running round the hospitals Vwas not nearly sufficient. No one man, good, could give these cases the "attention they required. The arrangement he proposed, which was the same as was in'operation in Britain, Canada, and Australia, would apply not only to the treatment of the sick from Trentham or other camps, but of tho wounded men returning. This schemeV would obviate the x.ccessity of depleting the country of doctors. A Time for Sacrifice ; . I Tho Hon., J.- Allen said that the. matter concerned his oolleague, Mr. Rhodes, more directly than himself. But lie wished to state this general principle; which applied not only to the.Medical Association, but to everybody in New Zealand—that tho 1 time had arrived when they must scatter to the winds all personal feeling and jealousies—he did not say that there wns any iealoufy—and,-in fact, all feelings of self. They must all unite to meat a very severe , situation as it presented itself to the Empire. It was a time for everybody ■ to make sacrifices. He would be only too glad to have ithe assistance of medical men if it could be organised. He would be only too glad if they would help to organise it. This would have been , put in order already but for tho epidemic at the camp, which had demanded all' their tinie and ingepuity, leaving uo '.time foi? the organisation. of the medical servicu or : anything else. He did "not kno*v ; of any lack of medical attendance at Berhamporc, but Berhampore was intended only for convalescent _ cases. If serious cases developed there it was an accident, an accident. arising out of the ejiidemic. Regarding the treatment of men in their own homes, the arrangement was that the local military medical officer should at-tend-them... Possibly it would be found that the local military service was ndt ' wide enough to deal with these cases, and the civilian medical service would have to be,asked for aid.. But so long as the Bert-Ice (o the sick' men -waa" not impaired. the Department could not overlook the military medical officers who had served so long. He had never heard-any suggestion that any' work done by civilian medical men was not to be paid for. It would be pi.id for as a matter of; course. : He made a full explanation of the delay in the erection sf .the military hospital aij

: Trentham. The movement for the collection of fuiids had originated outside the Defence Department, awl he did not hear of it until a good deal of money had been collected,- Then he asked for plans : and specifications. These were produced and approved after a delay of perhaps one or two days. The contract was .let, to be completed on June 27, and tho contractor was being fined for every day ho exceeded! that date. \ Difficult Cases. Mr. Allen detailed two cases of measles of'which he'had heard which _had ended fatally. .One man, although he_ ielt ill, had not -reported himself, and had actually gone on board a transport to leave, with tnfe Fifth. Reinforcements. At the last moment ho was. found, to ho suftering from measles, and ho wag removed to the Ihospital, where ho died. Another man at the camp ras seen to have measles .when he went to wash himself. He dm not report himself. A day or two later some of his: mates saw him washing his feet in the river,- and still measles were showing. The story as told to. him (Mr. Allen) was that next day the man yas dead. It was very difficult to make provision for cases of this kind except by tile medical inspection of ever}" man day by day. : This they, were now-doing, but it entailed tho employment of more medical officers. On tho question of whether a big central hospital should be established his opinion was that they should use for the returned men the general hospitals in different parts of the country, and that tho. men should be sent to the. hospitals as near as possible to their homes.

. Payment of Doctors. ' The Hon. R. H. Rhodes first asked members of the deputation to disabuse their minds of-any idea that' the Government intended. to call upon , medical men to give their services gratuitously. He would, w TeTy glad if they "would meet the hea<l of the Public Health Department to consult with him with reference to organisation of the-medical men of the Dominion. If they, did this.'lie had no doubt they would be able to arrive at some satisfactory arrangement. With regard to the treatment of returned soldiers it was difficult to say yet what accommodation it would be necessary to provide for them. He anticipated that most of the men after their rest in Egypt and on t'he voyage would be convalescent on arrival, and able to go to their.homes. 'As-for the men needing hospital treatment, it was intended to send them to he ; hospitals near their own homes, in which there ner.e beds to spare. Wellington Hospital was perhaps tho most crowded of all. Personally, he thought the men needing hospital treatment ought to go to the genera lhospitals. , For hose- convalescents who had no houses to go to, special convalescent homes would be provided. If the meii could be 60 distributed there would ho no need for a .large base hospital. In these other hospitals the men would be attended where possible by. the military medical'officers. ; Dr. Gibbs a?ked whether the Minister meant the Territorial medical officers, because Territorial medical officers were not paid. Mr. Allen: When they duty they' •get paid; • . Mr. Rhodes explained that the Territorial medical officers would be paid.for their services, in caring for "wounded. Dr. Gibbs: That is what we ask for.

, . Mr. Allen explained further that.a' Territorial medical officer, or a civilian practitioner attached for service would -get paid even if he gave part of his time only to military . work, giving the rest ' to civilian practice. Dr. Christie: That is the point I was anxious to get at. Mi'. Rhodes said he would like to have the opinion of the as to whether wo could spare any: more medical ■men from New Zealand to serye„'at Home. Personally he did not think 'so."; ' Dr. Gibbs: No. Mr, Rhodes: I am very glad to see-you shake your head, because on going into tilie thing'that is the conclusion I came to. In conclusion Mr. Rhodes expressed a. hope that there would be no more misnnderstandings between the 8.1f.A. and the Department.

Dr. Elliott explained that the B.M.A. had consulted the Headquarters Staff and tho Acting-Minister of Defence about- the hospital at Trehtham.before-appealing .to tne public. \ , " . -