SCARCITY OF DOCTORS.

Taranaki Daily News, 27 November 1917, Page 3

SCARCITY OF DOCTORS.

-Tin? .November of the Department of Public Health slates that:--For some lime pa-.t it ha- been necessary to ascertain to what extent the various districts ol New Zealand are adequately nerved with medical men. so that in selecting men for mililauv service no district shall be completely depleted. it is customary for the Department to appeal in every case to a medical man drawn in the billot who cannot be spared from his district, and in (lie case of those drawn in the ballot whip can be spared (he Depr.rimcnt advises the Director-General of Mc.lical Services, and their services are utilised by the mi'/tary in a medical capacity. On the cf'.Hal register published by (he Regis-trar-General at the commencement of the year there are 900 names, but many of these men are not. resident in New Zealand. The Department from time to time compiles a. working medical register (he medical men actually practising in each hospital district. This has recently been revise 1, ;ind a summary is attached hereto. Tt will be noticed that there are only 501 medical men (as far as the Department is aware) actually at. present practising in New Zealand, "end in addition 47 are engaged in military duties in New Zealand, whilst 17!) are on military service overseas, making a total on the working medical register of 727. The average number of the population to each medical man in practice is 22<i!>. As regards what would be n fair number of people to make a sufficient practice for a medical man, the chief centres may be taken as an index*. Before the war, although in remote country districts it ivas often difficult to obtain the services of a medical man, yet in the largrt towns the loss of one or two medical men would not have been felt. There is at present no shortage of medical men in ihe large towns, though a number have gone to the war. and a population from 2000 to CSOO might be assumed to be a fair number for .a medical man. In sparsely populated country districts, however, necessitating longer journeys, anything over this number might mean inadequacy of medical service; and from the medical mail's own point of view .it must be remembered that a smaller number of patients should in a country district result in as large an income a? a greater number in a, town, on account of the higher fees charged on account, of mileage. There is no doubt, however* that some districts are at present somewhat inadequately served, but since the. table was compiled the Department has succeeded in obtaining other medical men for the districts. There is great difficulty in persuading medical men to settle ii> the remote and rugged country of Westlam'. but (he Department has recently made provision for three district nurses therein.

Perms' o ; the tabulated returns submitted shews that, in (he Taranaki Hospital District, sir.' medical men are engaged on military duty (five overseas) and there are eight remaining, giving an average population of ;il7o to each doctor. For the Strut ford Hospital District. with two doctors, the average for each would be 4G52. In Pnlea district, one doctor is serving overseas, leaving n027 people for the remaining doctor (o attend to. Tn the Tlawera district two doctors are serving overseas, so that the remaining four would each have an average population of 4121. Westland is worst off for doctors, the one doctor there having a population of 7309. The 'Patea Hospital District conies third on (he list, Stratford fourth. Hawera fifth, and Taranaki tenth as far as shortage of doctors is concerned.