NATIONAL HEALTH

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 121, 24 May 1937, Page 11

NATIONAL HEALTH

VIEWS OF B.M.A

START WITH INDIGENT

■By r.-iWrnnti,'■<•""■ <*■*» 'Million.!,

CHRISTCHURCH, May 23.

"We feel that the deficiencies in] medical practice should be dealt with first and foremost, and that a start should be made by giving a complete and highly efficient service to those in the Dominion who are unable to procure the service at present, namely, the indigent," said Dr. T. D. M. Stout, president of the New Zealand branch of ■ the British Medical Association, in a statement' on Saturday about the proposals' for a national health insurance scheme. Dr. Stou.t said that while lie was giving his personal views his statement could be taken as representing the general views of the association. He urged that any scheme should be approached cautiously, arid he claimed that a start with the class of people he suggested would allow an evolutionary development with the possible additions of other sections of the people as it grew. "The institution of a scheme to cover those who, though' able to procure satisfactory medical attention, are unable to make adequate financial provision for it when prolonged illness occurs, would by many be held to be desirable, and1 this section of the community could possibly 'je, brought into the scheme when tb -' machinery has been got into smooth working order and when more time: for the study of our complicated problems, has ensued. Nothing, however, should • stand in the way of provision in the first place of a full and complete service for those who are unable to procure it now. That is the real need Of the country at present,' and should be met as the first step in a national health insurance scheme, "The preservation and conservation of a high standard of medical practice and of a high academic and ethical standard of the profession is of the utmost importance. If anything is done to lower this standard by deterioration of the standard'of practice ;or by the introduction of an inferior type of practitioner, however theoretically ideal a scheme may be it will inevitably lead, whatever the efficiency of the administration, to a poor type of medical service to the community. . GOVERNMENT'S IfiEALS. "We are convinced of the high ideals of the Government in' dealing with this problem and feel sure that the Government: appreciates the difficulty of the problems and the need for cautious approach so as to preserve all that is good in our present medical service, and to.ensure that those who are unable to benefit from a satisfactory medical service should have that service at their disposal. The profession is ever willing to be of' the utmost assistance to every section of the community in providing the very best medical service possible. ', It js, however, anxious that ho precipitate action be taken without due study and consideration which may irretrievably damage the best elements of a highlytrained profession with the tradition of centuries of development and service to mankind behind it." , ~, .