Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1938. A CONFLICT TO BE AVOIDED.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1938, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 17, 1938. A CONFLICT TO BE AVOIDED.

an organised body, the medical practitioners of the Dominion have declared open and uncompromising war on the Government’s national health scheme. Nothing less than that is implied in the public statement made yesterday by the president of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association, Dr J. P. S. Jamieson, that as the Government has completely rejected all its advice, the association regrets.that it cannot “assure the Government of that measure of support and co-operation which is necessary to carry out its scheme.” A similar intimation has been conveyed by Dr Jamieson to the . Minister of Publie Health (the Hon P. Fraser) in a letter which was also made public yesterday. The New Zealand president of the B.M.A. has said that it will be interesting to see what the Government proposes to do in the circumstances. It is possible that the total developments of the situation, viewed from any side, may be interesting. Common sense suggests, however, that a protracted struggle between the Government and the organised medical profession would be unprofitable and hardly compatible with sound intelligence. Almost certainly ■ a struggle of the kind would be as little in the public interest as in that of the two parties immediately concerned. Probably the best and most hopeful approach to a i reasonable composition would be made by determining in amicable conference how far the elements of contention the health scheme embodies can be narrowed. A great deal obviously could be done in that way. The total, scope of the scheme is very wide, but much of the ground it covers presumably is, or could be made, non-controversial. ■Where hospital service is concerned, for example, a scheme of universal contribution, accompanied by a universal right of admission, may very reasonably be preferred to the existing state of affairs. A liberal extension and improvement of maternity care, in hospitals and in the homes of patients, should also command ready and general approval, and there should be no great difficulty in arriving at agreement as to the conditions in which this very necessary and valuable, service is to be rendered. Then a'gain, medical men, through their association, have criticised the Government scheme on the ground that it does not make adequate provision for the prevention of disease and the promotion of health. In the extent to which this criticism can be established, the Government , plainly must be regarded as occupying an untenable position and one which ought to be abandoned. Positive measures to prevent disease and promote health ought to take a very important place indeed in a national health scheme. Obviously the knowledge and skill of medical men and that of members of allied and associated profes-. sions cannot be employed better or more profitably than in helping to make as many people as possible independent > of medical treatment or hospital care save in case of accident or misadventure. While it fully commends itself from that standpoint, an active campaign of educational and other measures to foster and promote healthy livingmay serve an important secondary purpose in preventingundue and unwarranted calls being made upon readily accessible medical treatment and care. The principal bone of contention between the Government and the medical profession apparently is the proposal to institute a universal general practitioner service and it is here that a definite call is made upon the British genius for compromise. No obvious path to a settlement suggests itself, but it is none the less necessary on that account to seek the best settlement that can be devised. In order that a settlement may be possible, it is no doubt necessary that the Government should abate something of its universal scheme and that the Medical Association should not seek to insist rigidly upon the division of the community into the four categories it has suggested. A working agreement between the Government and the members of the medical profession should not be unattainable if it is sought by both sides in a. broad-minded spirit of give and take. It may be noted that the Medical Association’s present refusal to co-operate with the Government is ascribed explicitly to the complete rejection of all the advice it has tendered on the subject of the health scheme. The views of members of the association plainly ought to be given all reasonable consideration, not only for the reason that medical men and women have an allimportant part to play in whatever national health scheme may ultimately be evolved, but for the reason that the great amount of voluntary and honorary service they undertake in hospitals and elsewhere demonstrates that they have in general “anything but a limited or mercenary outlook on the duties and responsibilities of their profession.