STATE DOCTORS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 109, 29 April 1908, Page 2

STATE DOCTORS.

In tin- current issue of the New Zealand Medical Journal, the organ of the profession. and of which Dr. Foil, ol Wellington, is the editor, tin' editorial nvliclu i* based upon n very interesting letter from Dr. ]'. (,'lemiel Fenwick, ol Chriswhurch, in wliie-h the latter atlv.irati''- the establishing of a tiovernriienl mo'lkal service, lu Hie nrtielc the Journal point* out that during the past year u.cnilicrs, holh at Home and in the cob. nie-. have been "profoundly ilissatisfie I with things us they are," and adds: "h the profession were overmanned Hi') trouble would soon right iUdf. Mei woiib! -eek other more remunerative work, lint il is not so. The I rouble is that doctors are exploited by the public. 'l'hev work for nothing in the hospitals, so well-to-do people lioek there to be treated for nothing. They are summoned from their beds or meals to nccidenls. for whieh tliey are never paid. Tliev attend the benevolent homes ami number-, of similar institutions free, ami they give ambulance lectures free. The result of all this is that the time is ripe for some change. Whether Dr. Fenwick's suggestion is a good one or not we are not prewired to say. ... It is time for doctors really to face the position and make up their minds how thev will act. for that some change must be made seems quite certain. II looks as if things were lending to a subitum on sonic Mich lines as these: that doctor- should be divided into three cla,sc-. Class 1. possessed of the best possible degrees and the highest ~eienI line attainments, to be paid by the State, and to ".ivc their time ill th main to scientific research; class i to consist of purely operating surgeons; and clan- :i lo consist of men with a mere pass qualification. . . . With this division into classes I here would lie less inducement for the public to go to quacks for minor ailments, and counter | prcscribim- bv chemist- and dispensing bv doctor, iiiiuhl be forbidden."