PRINCE’S TRIBUTE

Hokitika Guardian, 15 September 1932, Page 2

PRINCE’S TRIBUTE

PRAISE OF MEDICAL MEN. 'ADMIRATION AND SYMPATHY. [LONDON, August 4. “In proposing this important toast and congratulating the British Medical Association on what it has achieved in a 'century, I would ask you to have in mind not alone the success it has achieved hut the bearing of such success upon the future,” said the prince of Wales in a speech at th'3’ Centenary Dinner of the British Medical Association. V.

“Every success such as yours must carry with it not only increased responsibilities but expanding, opportunities, and, if I may say so, the risks of bbth. There must be very few people living who have been able to avoid or dispense with the services of the medical profession. (Laughter.) 1 am certainly no exception to the rule among mortals, for in work and in play I have fallen into the hands of many doctors (laughter) in many parts of the world. But I would at once Assure you that, whenever and wherever I have turned to doctors for treatment or advice, I have found common sense and friendliness as well as professional skill. In fact, I have had so much advice, aiid I have also learned, ;like many others have, how to keep myself fit so far, that I have to some extent become my own doctor.

“I am not alone in having become my own doctor. I will give you a little story to illustrate why -I think that we who are not of the medical profession do well to become our own doctors. (Laughter.) lam in the habit of occasionally taking a Turkish bath. I heard the other day the story of a. doctor who was suffering from acute lumbago. He went to a Turkish ( bath. The first visit alleviated his suffering to suoli an extent that he went there six times. He came out of that Turkish bath almost entirely mired of his ailment, and on emerging from the building he could not help remarking to an attendant with a smiile, ‘And to think that I am treating 40 patients for lumbago. (Laughter.)

WAR SERVICE. “I have always thought that doctors are very human people, and are rather strangely and zealously occuped in removing the occasion for their professional services. I know of no other profession that has this peculiar habit, and we a/1 rather admit it, because we hope or assume that some time or other there will be no need for their existence. 1 am always pleased to come to'their meetings. (Cheers.) Quite apart from my personal experiences,'of youi* professional skill, I have had many opportunities of waiohlng the work of doctors in every part of th© world. (Cheers.) It would be difficult, I think, to find any country, tiny place or community, any service or proftes. sion, industry or ocoupiation iu which doctors are not called upon to function in every line of medicine and Under every kind of climate and condition'.

“It was probably on active service during the war that I first met and really understood what the doctor was capable of. We who were not of your greai profession never’ ceased in our admirlation of the work of the medical officer in the front lin'e. It was supposed to be non-combatant. Many of them were medical students—people who had never thought of war and who weir© 'looking forwiard to a practice. There i they were, non-combatants, going through just the same hardships as the combatants, and generally working very much harder and later after the battle was over.

"Whenever I go to a reunion of exservice men we always think of the regimental medical officer, who was one of the finest men that the war ever produced. Never in tho history of warfare has medicine and surgery rendered such supremely valuable services as in the Great War. Quite apart from .the wonderful treatment and* healing of the wounded, the following figures as ' regards typhoid fever are interesting in South Africa, with a comparatively small army, there were 57,000 cases of typhoid, of whom 8000 died. In the Great War, on all the fronts of the British Army during the four years, there were only 20,000 cases, and only ICOO deaths.

UNSELFISH DEVOTION. “In the 13 years since the war I have watched all the innumerable activities of your profession. I have seen you at work among the poor, where you we always their helpers and their friends, and where your unselfish dfevotioni brings comfort and health to thousands of humble homes. I have seen you at work in general hospitals, both great and small, in institutions and clinics for cripples and the tuberculous, for mental Cases, for the blind, deaf and dumb, and for sick children. It is always the same story of high endeavour, public service, and great responsibility, meeting all sorts of reasonable and unreasonable claims in a sportsmanlike manner. ,

"The medical profession may or may not claim to be the oldest in tliio world, but it is most certainly the one that has tho longest connection with the life of tho individuals. Tim doctor is certainly our first friend in life, and lie is probably allso our last. A very good friend indeed he is to every section of the community, ard lam glad to have this opportunity to-night of expressing my abiding interest, admiration and sympathy with the medical man in .practice.”