DISTRICT HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL STAFF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1673, 10 February 1917, Page 2

DISTRICT HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL STAFF.

AT Thursday’s meeting of the District Hospital Board, the local representative moved that Dr. Barnett be appointed to the honorary staff; in view of the fact that Dr. Bett, one of the staff —which, according to the by-laws, consists of two surgeons and an anaesthetist —had been called up. It is admitted by Dr. Bett that there is a shortage of medical men in the district, and it naturally follows that while the hospital patients are not neglected, the pressure at the institution could be relieved by the appointment of an extra surgeon. Strange as it may seem, the Chairman strongly urged the Board not to make the appointment, and finally fell back on the by-laws—which, by the way, are more honoured in the breach than the observance —to put the motion out of order. This, in view of the fact that a precedent had previously been created by the Board in accepting a motion by Mr Hornblow re the appointment of Dr Whittaker to the honorary staff! The Chairman, however, let the cat out of the bag when opposing the

appointment by alleging profossional jealousy as the cause of the hold up. The mover of the motion said he thought too highly of Palmerston’s medical men to believe that they would allow their personal feelings to stand in the way of suffering humanity. To think that the gratuitous services of a clever surgeon is denied patients at the public institution who cannot afford treatment in a private hospital because of alleged professional jealousy is coming it a bit too strong, and it now remains to be seen whether the Palmerston District Hospital is going to be run as a close corporation by a few medical men, or whether the Board will rise to a proper sense of their responsibilities.