MATERNITY SERVICES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 May 1939, Page 8

MATERNITY SERVICES

STATEMENT BY MINISTER

OF HEALTH EXTENSION OF BENEFITS. AS CONTRACTS ARE SIGNED. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WANGANUI, this Day. ■‘The Government is providing the organisation and financial means of placing maternity benefits within the reach of every mother and those con • cerned with the interests of mothers in any district should know that the absence of services is entirely due to those who can give services refusing to do so,” said the Hon P. Fraser (Minister of Health). “The Government has fulfilled its part in making provision possible if the medical profession co-operates. Furthermore, the benefits are to be extended as rapidly as possible to every part, of the country.” The Minister said many inquiries had been made by obstetricians living abroad regarding the practice in New Zealand, including practitioners of the highest standing. “While it would not be a wise policy to close the doors in New Zealand altogether to experienced obstetricians so long as there is need in the country,” he added, “I am hopeful that doctors in New Zealand who are offered such good terms will first take advantage of the opportunities offered.” The Minister said the services would continue to be extended as fast as contracts were accepted. INDIGNANT PROTEST ALLEGATION BY MINISTEP. CHALLENGED. DR JAMIESON’S REPUDIATION. WELLINGTON, This Day. An emphatic protest against the action of the Hon P. Fraser in raising the question of possible boycott by the profession of those members serving under the Maternity Benefit regulations was made today by Doctor J. P. S. Jamieson, chairman of the National Health Insurance Committee of the New Zealand branch of the British Medical Association. “I cannot allow such a serious allegation to pass without immediately repudiating it on behalf of the whole medical profession throughout New Zealand and entering an emphatic protest against the action of the Minister in giving expression to it,” said Dr Jamieson. “The Minister himself has no belief in the allegation and had no right to put it forward. The serious nature of the charge demands further particulars of the Minister’s information. His statement will be deeply resented by the profesI sion and the public alike.”