THE WELFARE OF WOMEN.

Shannon News, 27 April 1928, Page 3

THE WELFARE OF WOMEN.

OBSTETRICAL SOCIETY’S WORK.

AN APPEAL FOR SUPPORT

At the luncheon of the Dunedin Rotary Club on March Bth, the principal guest was Mr Victor Bonnev, the eminent English surgeon. In the course of an address Mr Bonney stated that he would like to say a few words on a subject, that was very .dear to him, and one for the assistance of which he had come all the way from England. He had been asked to come here to help to inaugurate a new movement —the Obstetrical Society—the object of which was to make child-birth safer for women. They had similar societies in London, Edinburgh, the north of England, Dublin, and Belfast. They were old societies, that in London being 70 years old. When he came to New Zealand he brought to the new society the greetings of the old ones, an address, and a chairman’s mallet for the chairman to keep order with and defend himself if the necessity arose—(Laughter). He thought that obstetrics was the oldest branch of medicine, dating from Mother Eve, and he held that it was the most important of all the branches of medicine, because it directly concerned itself with the coming generation, because two lives were at stake instead of one, and because on the result of a confinement a.man’s happiness absolutely depended. That result might bring him joy for the rest of his life, or it might-end in tragedy' and disaster, which would : cloud him for the remainder of his days. Mr Bouncy said he wanted lay people to understand that although child-birth was a natural function it was not comparable with many other things which were also regarded as natural functions. If they thought about the matter they would realise that there was a tremendous essential difference between child-birth and other natural functions. Ordinary natural functions-were performed for the bene- % fit of the individual, whereas childbirth was performed for the benefit of the race and at the cost of the individual. That was so throughout all Nature. In certain kinds of animals the female perished after she had created a new generation, and in others, as in bees, the drone "got it in the neck." Nature concentrated on the continuance of the* race, and the welfare of the parents, particularly the mother, was scarcely taken into consideration. In the old days when a woman was confined it did not matter where the event took place or what attention she had. He had seen women confined under the most primitive circumstances. The old idea was that child-birth was a natural phenomenon, and that it did not matter where a confinement took place. It had been known for years, that there was a very definite mortality attaching to childbirth, and that when a woman came into labour she took a very definite risk. There was a bigger risk than that of death, and that was the risk of injury to health. Not many women' died during child-birth nowadays, but a very considerable number were injured in the process, andj were never the same afterwards. When this was looked into the medical profession saw what should be done, and the ideas i*egarding child-birth were revised. The idea ruling.now was that the carrying of a child and the delivery of a child were periods in a woman’s life requiring very close supervision. At childbirth a woman should have all the advantages that would be demanded for the simplest case of surgery. That point of view was relatively new, but, it was fully appreciated by the medical profession, though it was not so fully realised by laymen and laywomen. In England a very large proportion of women, instead of having babies in poor or inconvenient surroundings, went into maternity homes or hospitals which were furnished with every appliance that ingenuity could think of, and where they were surrounded by potential help, so that in the event of anything going wrong all the requisites for immediate assistance were on the- spot. He was not saying that a woman should not be confined in her, own house. She could be if the conditions were satisfactory, but if they were not satisfactory he would strongly urge that she should be taken to a maternity hospital or homo, where every possible safeguard surrounded her. As a result of the changed views they had very considerablv reduced the mortality during child-birth in England and Scotland. Not only had they reduced the mortality, but they had also reduced what was called morbidity. In order to do this two things were essential. In the first place they must have sufficient lying-in hospitals or homes for women to go into, and secondly they had to educate the people to the fact that unless very favourable conditions could be secured in the home it was better to go into ofie of these hospitals or homes, where there wab a highly-train-ed staff to do the work. At the new

university college hospital in London they had built, thanks to a magnificent donation from the Rockefeller Trust, a fine njaternity hospital as part of the institution. In the scheme f'or rebuilding of the Middlesex Hospital there was provision for a maternity hospital of 50 or more beds. That would greatly relieve the situation the districts in which the Middlesex Hospital was situated. At the present the beds were so limited that they could no,t take in all the women they wished to accommodate, and some had to be attended in their homes.

These maternity hospitals had, of course, another very important use. In the first place they made for the safety of the women. That was tlm first consideration,, but besides that/they furnished training grounds for the students and qualified men as well, for the latter were learning all the time. He thought that the conditions under which students got their, training in the old days were very disgusting. The object nowadays, in England, Scotland and Ireland was to train students under the best possible conditions, and when they went out as doctors they insisted, as far as possible, on those conditions being associated with their patients, besides educating the patients to seek for better things. Th s enlargement in the maternity hospital system was an important thing for everyonei It enabled students to get a wonderful training in midwifery. That training was most important, because the welfare of coming generations of women depended on it, and people in all walks of life should take a great interest in turning out men qualified to look after their daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaugh-ters in the future.

Then there was the question of research. They knew that certain illnesses concomitants of childbirth sometimes, and these were occasionally very difficult to deal with. A great deal of research still required to be done. For instance, there was the disease called eclampsia, which killed a considerable number of women all over the world every year. At present the cause of it completely baffled them. Research was being done, but a great deal more had to be done before they found out the cause. It was only in the big maternity hospitals, where a number of patients were under observation, that these problems could be properly tackled; ! Then they .were up against the question of teaching all the students and the supervision of the maternity hospitals, so as to keep them up to the highest level. The problem they were up against was that of finance. . In the United Kingdom money had to be raised by voluntary subscriptions, and in these hard times it was very difficult to get money. It was surprising, however, to find that the money required for equipment, teaching .staffs, and so on was raised by voluntary contributions throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland. He did not know hoiv far these problems applied in New Zealand, but he thought they applied here much the same as they did at Home. That was why he had spoken about what they were doing at Home, because he judged that they wanted to do something here in a smaller way. He had inspected - the Medical School in Dunedin, and a splendid institution it .was. He knew the calibre of the medical men here and the high standard o'f their work, and he could assure the people that they should be very proud of that calibre and standard. He knew that before he came to New Zealand, because he had had to deal with a great many New Zealanders at Home. He had had no fewer than eight New Zealand house surgeons in liis hospitals in the last four years, and he knew of the high standard of the medical men from the Dominion. However good and energetic the practitioner might be, however, he must have the material. In the Medical School there they had a professor of medicine and a professor of surgery, and he was a little disappointed to find that his particular branch did not have a profes sor. Obstetrics and gynaecology should be placed on the same level as medicine and surgery. These were the three primary features of medicine, and they were of equal importance. He thought that sooner or later they would have a professor of obstetrics' here.

The Obstetrical Society was going to be a very big thing one of these days. The society in England began 70 years ago, and 70 years hence the people would take off their hats to the pioneers in the movement here. Laymen could help the movement a great deal. In the first place the pro fesßion went to them for money, and also for encouragement and understanding. By helping research in midwifery and the diseases of women one was not only doing a good deed in general, but was also, maybe, helping some woman whom he loved to come through a confinement, thanks to the knowledge and skill available partly through a layman’s efforts and gifts, and without which it might not be available. This was,a thing that touched all men, who honoured women, and he appealed to them to help the New Zealand Obstetrical Society and to take advantage of every opportunity to push it along.—Otago Daily Times.