PREVENTION OF DISEASE.
The views of Dr. W E. Herbert, as expressed recently to the Hospital Commission when sitting at Wellington, may not coincide with those of the medical profession generally, but they are in line with a phase of progressive action which is finding prominent support among not a few of those who regard the question of the health of the community from a national standpoint, and not as a mere matter between doctor and patient. The subject of the prevention of disease being placed in the forefront of national activities is gradually being pressed on the attention of the authorities. Like all other important movements it has to depend upon the advocacy of enthusiasts, and to encounter the opposition of established usage, yet no rational being can dispute that the maxim of prevention being better than cure holds good in medical affairs as well as in others. It may be that, like the proposed nationalisation of the medical service, the concentration on the prevention of disease ' will take time to materialise, but that both these measures will become a reality admits of no doubt. Dr. Herbert s
argument in favor of spending money on the prevention of disease is a sound economic proposal which demands serious attention. It by no means follows that preventive methods will succeed it obviating the necessity for curative treatment, but it would certainly prove a great national iTvet and * materially reduce the large amount of sickness which at present fills our hospitals, while it would certainly tend to build up the physical power of the people and enable greater resistance to be made against the ravages of epidemics.
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Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1921, Page 4
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275PREVENTION OF DISEASE. Taranaki Daily News, 16 May 1921, Page 4
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