COMBATING CANCER

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 849, 18 December 1929, Page 6

COMBATING CANCER

SPECIALISTS’ COMMITTEE IN AUCKLAND INVESTIGATIONS AT HOSPITAL To investigate cancer cases ad mitted to the Auckland Public Hospital, with a view to determining the most effective methods of treatment of various forms of the disease, the honorary staff of the institution has appointed a committee of specialists embracing all branches of the profession. personnel announced to the Hospital Board yesterday afternoon was:—Dr. W. Gilmour, bacteriologist, chairman, Dr. T. W. J. Johnson. physician. Dr. Neil McDougrg.ll, radiologist. Dr. H. W. Wilson, dermatologist. Mr. Kenneth Mackenzie, surgeon, Mr. J. Hardie Neil. eye. ear, nose and throat specialist, Mr. W. A. Fairr lough, ey© specialist, Mr. Douglas Robb, surgeon. Dr. E. B. Gunson was added to the committee to represent the Hospital Board. Air. W. Wallace, chairman of the board, said he had been associated with Dr. Gunson in the Auckland committee set up in New Zealand to under(aka cancer rcaaarch, and it was proposed to launch a campaign early in the New Year to raise £20,000 to acquire further radium supplies. Supposing all the radium required was obtained. he said, the point that had to be decided, and on which the board wanted the committee's guidance, was whether radium treatment was best and whether the latest methods of treatment were effective. He considered that it was of vital importance to the board and the public to know what work was to be done and how the committee intended proceeding. The committee, in his opinion, would show the board if treatment had been proceeding along the right lines in the past. The problem would undoubtedly seriously engage the board's attention in the near future, and he was glad to see so many prominent professional men associated in the plan. Dr. E. B. Gunson said that at present, in certain cases, radium was accepted by the profession as affording the best results, but in others it had not been successful. It was largely a palliative. The importance of application of radium lay in its handling, and therein lay the reason for the very unsatisfactory results, not only in this hospital, but in institutions all over the world. There had been very definite advances in radium treatment made, however, and it had been proved that where radium had been applied by specialists the results had been good. This was one of "the points on which the committee should advise the board, and he considered that a statement setting out the lines on which the committee intended working should a Iso be presented, as it would affect not only the efficiency of the hospital, but the radium fund to be raised. Mr. J. Rowe wanted some assurance that radium work being done was successful. Reiterating his statement. Dr. Gunson said that they must insist that radium should only be handled by men skilled to apply it in the proper way. The board passed a resolution to ask the committee to report on the lines it intended working.