FAMILY DOCTOR’S WORK

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 900, 18 February 1930, Page 14

FAMILY DOCTOR’S WORK

SHOULD PREVENT. NOT CURE ILLNESS The family physician of the future will be the supervisor of health charged with the prevention of disease rather than the consultant called in by the family after illness has been detected, says Dr. Francis F. Borzell, chairman of the committee on health education of the Philadelphia County Medical Society. Dr. Borzell declares that the role of family physician, far from becoming a thing of the past, is simply experiencing a transition, on the completion or which he will assume a more important position than he now occupies, reports the London “Daily Express.” “The doctor may today be the adviser of the home, tomorrow he will be the supervisor,” says Dr. Borzell. “Much has been said of the Chinese system. A physician, according to this method, is attached to the household and paid a yearly stipend so long as the members remain well. “The salary stops if anyone becomes ill, and despite many unscientific performances and perhaps occasional voodo methods practised by the Chinese physician, this system is based on principles basically sound. “Our health engineer of the future will actually be able to maintain the household health on a high plane of efficiency because of his sound knowledge, coupled with privileges of thorough and necessary supervision. “The present fund of available medical knowledge is so enormous that the best mind in the world cannot encompass it. The scientific physician, however, holds the key to the safety deposit vaults which contain this knowledge, and from them he may secure that which is necessary for the individual case.

“Each person’s health is an individual problem, and the doctor is frequently handicapped in prescribing because our present system renders it impossible for him to be thoroughly cognisant of all the details of occupation, habits, and living conditons whch actually influence the physical capacity and health of the patient.”