MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

Hokitika Guardian, 2 March 1921, Page 3

MEDICAL ASSOCIATION

, ANNUAL CONFERENCE. lT * NAPIER, Feb 28. , The annual meeting of the New Ze bind branch of the British Medical A sociation was opened in Napier t night, and will continue till Frida; Tlie proceedings are being conductc lU under th© chairmanship of the jires )r dent, Dr J. P .1). Leahy, of Napiei About‘so delegates are attending. The Mayor accorded the delegates civic reception, after which the pres dent delivered his address. He mad reference to the dearth of apprentices in various professions and trades, Im >f remarked that quite the reverse was th s case regarding the medical profession e “In spite of increased fees, deferroi e examinations, and the possibility of e six-years’ course,” Dr Leahv continued a “so far the main supplies of medico practitioners for this country have beei necessarily drawn from Home universi ties, but the Dominion and Australi; will be getting more self-supplying a: time; goes oil. Men wish to enter tin - university" with a view, to studying so ill ( - profession-law, medicine, engineering 1 the Clnuch. science, or literature. Li 1 teraturc is taken up mostly with a. view < of entering the ranks .of the school ’ masters, a profession that, as a rule, ii poorly paid, and contains few plums, Science, as a means of making a livelihood. is worse, on account of the lowei remuneration and scarcity of openings, and-there is no great inclination found to foster research work. Engineering is only a little better, and as for the Church .none enter it with the view of financial gain. On the other hand, medicine and law, because people will always get sick and will always engage in litigation, offer the prospect of a decent living, with the added inducement of many plums. In all the schools, of course, the number of students has been increased by the men who saw service during the war. and who have gone buck to finish their interrupted course. The number of graduates is, say, only a bout forty per cent., 0(- even less of the students who enter, taking the Dunedin class figures as a basis, where, out of 200 students who started in 1916, 28 graduated in 1920, and out of 225 in 1917, only 20 graduated in 1921. It would seem a very desirable thing it some method could be devised by which unsuitable students could be weeded out early in their career, before much hardship had been incurred. For a medical student to find that he is a misfit in the earlier years of his study, and so bo able to choose another avocation, is far more desirable than for him to find it out later, when, without any special gift for medicine, hut. with luck and exceeding mercy on the part of the examiners, he has got to the end of his course, hut then fails. It. is of the utmost importance that his risk of failing should be greater in the later years of the medical course, but that also is a greatly increased hardship. The difficulty of efficient clinical teaching is a much more serious problem. II real overcrowding does occur, it will not 1 raise the standard of medicine in New Zealand, or anywhere else, The uni- ! versity course is only preparatory, and graduates are really far from being 1 '(impotent to practice without a year < it least of residence in hospital. How ire the increased hum her of graduates to get hospital appointments ‘i A great majority of them will become private iractitioners.” ]n view of the foregoing loots, Dr Leahy said lie considered it important 1 hat something should bo done to help lost graduates' education. His ule > vas that each hospital should be made i continuation school for medical men. . Hospitals provided the means ol studytig accurate records of cases, which vas difficult in private practice, unless i skilled nurse was present to observe .igns between the visits of the medical | ttendant. It should he ideal for .very general practitioner at regular ntervals to spend some time," taking refresher post graduate course at a iiedical school, or a large hospital. In _ er present conditions this was iinposihle, as most medical men needed a jt egular holiday if they could afford the imc. It should, however, be possible n - a medical man to see things demonDated at an up-to-date local hospital t times when, without great inconeiiienec.to himself, he could have it. he president also urged the need for j renter interest in post-mortem work, w ml suggested that each hospital should ■wo its own anatomy room or museum ith a complete series of dissections for so by medical men, also a pathological usoum. It hospitals were brought up i tho standard suggested, Dr Leahy nisiilored that there would lie a splend outlook for medicine in New Zeand. He was confident that his sag'st ions were practicable. |