SOLDIER OUT-PATIENTS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 234, 27 June 1919, Page 7

SOLDIER OUT-PATIENTS

A MEDICAL OVERHAUL. The Medical Branch of the Defence Do« partment has decided to tet up a, special medical board for the purpose* of examining all soldiers who are out-patients at all hospitals in New Zealand. This board will travel over tho whole of New Zealand with a view to classifying these cases. In addition to returned soldiers actually attending as out-patients, it i 9 believed that there may be some disabled , men who received their discharge before tho possibilities opened up by the recent advances in military orthopaedic surgery and other kinds qf treatment of war disabilities had developed. Any disabled men in this condition who desire their cases to be reviewed by Hie Travelling Medical Board jhoiv'.d at once communicate with the Assistant Director of Medical Services of their Military District (Auckland. .Wellington, Canterbury, or plage). That officer will then arrange that these men aro brought before tho board in the course of its itinerary. Cases requiring treatment will be sent to the most suitable. hospit* for inpatient treatment, so Hint they may get greater benefit, Oilier out-patients have reached a stationary position in regard to their disability, and where the beard is satisfied that no further good can be done, they will be boarded out, and. their pension finally adjusted. As tho Defence Deportment has now a complete series of hospitals for spec'ialits ■treatment, Ihe Medical Board .will bo able in many cases to recommend transfers of patients tn the hospital in which their particular disability, will be .dealt with by a specially-trained staff. Soldier patients in the civil hospitals are to be included in this examination. Tho board will make a special note regarding limbless cases and those, requiring operative treatment. Every patient will have his case considered, with a view to providing him with the best treatment available in the Dominion. The policy of tho Department is not: to allow its soldier patients to indefinitely drift. Tho board comprises a Consulting Surgeon lo the Forces, and a surgeon who has had a wide experience on a hospital <ship and in military hospitals. It will bo. able to determine what can be dona to improve the condition of the patient, and to definitely decide if nothing further can bo..done by medical science, in which case the soldier will have his pension permanently arranged, and -will bo able to lake advantage of the facilities provided by tho State for the assistance of disabled meii to learn fecial occupations suitable for, them. It is anticipated that this board iwill require several months to complete its itinerary. It is hoped that any discharged soldiers on permanent nension who consider Ihej may be benefited by further treatment will report, as indicated, to tho Assistant Director of Medical Services of their district