HEALTH SCHEME

Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1938, Page 9

HEALTH SCHEME

B.M.A. AND GOVERNMENT 1 REPLY TO MR SAVAGE ; (By Telegraph —Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. , Replying to the statement of the . Prime Minister (Mr Savage) on the . complaint of the New Zealand branch . of the British Medical Association that it had not been consulted on the de- , tails of the Social Security Bill relating to the national health scheme, Dr . Jamieson, of Nelson, president of the branch, said the Prime Minister’s statement was exactly what the association expected. What the British Medical Association desired to establish in the public mind was that, in a measure which gravely concerned the health of the people of New Zealand, the medical profession had been in no way consulted. This the Prime Minister had now made quite clear, and, in addition, he had shown that, prior to committing itself to the Bill about to be brought down, the Government has no intention of seeking that practical advice which the association can give. “The general public, of course,” said Dr Jamieson, “will not be misled by the Prime Minister’s statement that ‘so far the Bill has not come before Cabinet, and in these circumstances it is quite unreasonable for the British Medical Association to expect a copy of the Bill or any specific information 1 concerning its contents.’ The point is that in the drafting of the Bill Cabinet must have given the draftsmen the , necessary decisions which the Government had arrived at, and in such an important matter as the health of the people of the Dominion the association 1 submits that Cabinet would have been better advised to have sought the practical criticism of the association beforehand.