Patient's Plaint
Sta,—The N.H.I. scheme was no doubt intended to benefit not exclusively the working classes but also middle-class folk who com- plied with its regulations and paid their contributions regularly. In practice, however, there seem to be many medical men today, especially in country districts, who resent patients on their panel whom they consider quite well enough off to pay them a good fee; resent that they should take advantage of N.H.I. even though their cards would show that they had regularly\ paid their contributions for some con- siderable time past. Thus, while the doctor, on whose panel such a patient is, will pay him or her a perfunctory visit when especially asked to do so, he lets it plainly be seen that he considers an unfair advantage is being taken of him and that, if he is to show any interest in the case, a fee will be expected over and above whatever that patient may have contributed to N.H.I. It is difficult to see how this 'deplorable state of things is to be overcome, since there is an old saying,,that you can compel a horse to go to the water but you cannot force him to drink. The writer is not suggesting that doctors are more mercenary in 'their behaviour than men in other professions; but there are black sheep in eNery flock, and these deserve to be shown up for what they really are.—
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