27 AUGUST 1943, Page 12

DOCTORS AND THE STATE

Snt,—You remind your readers that doctors at the outset strenuously opposed the first National Health Insurance measure. True, and they only submitted to force majeure, as they presumably will have to again. Their attitude has been justified, for we are now told the panel system has been a failure, and (though this seems a non sequitur) the only cure is to make it universal. The real reason for implementing this part of the Beveridge Report so hurriedly is that the Government wants to tighten up certification i naturally, doctors do not visualise themselves as watch-

dogs of the Treasury.—Yours, &c., W. LANGDON-BROWN. Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.