Our medical charities : an address delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Birmingham and Midland Counties Branch of the British Medical Association June 26th, 1877 / by Sampson Gamgee.

  • Gamgee, Sampson, 1828-1886.
Date:
1877
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Our medical charities : an address delivered at the Annual Meeting of the Birmingham and Midland Counties Branch of the British Medical Association June 26th, 1877 / by Sampson Gamgee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    4/28 (page 4)
    appetite for the good things which our host has provided, and for the good jokes and stories which you older practitioners have brought with you. While I wish you all welcome and good cheer, I trust you may have no reason to find fault with me, for laying before you some ante-prandial provisions, which may be neither unpleasant nor unprofitable material for rumination, after the viands of the day shall have been assimilated and disposed of. You cannot have failed to notice that in all parts of the kingdom the subject of Medical Charities has, during the last few years, attracted a large and increasing share of public attention. It has been elaborately treated in leading serials of such diverse political tendencies as the Quarterly and the Westminster Reviews, while many of the leaders of our profession, and social reformers outside its pale, have contributed much valuable material to the discussion. They all concur in the necessity of instituting a thorough investiga- tion into the administration of gratuitous medical relief, with a view to check its widely spread abuse. That concurrent testimony goes far to justify the representations, so often made by , the great body of Medical Practitioners, against the social and professional evils of indiscriminate charity ; but as to their precise extent, and the best means of dealing with them, it is only natural to suppose that opinions do not approach so nearly to unanimity, j In our midst has risen up a small body of very active men, who, admitting the existence of great abuses in our Medical Charities, say in effect to the Members of our Profession ? Attend to your practice and leave administration to us. It is a business matter, you are not business men, we are.” History shows that most of our Medical Charities were founded by members of our profession; to wit, the General Hospital, by Dr. Ash; the Queen’s, by Mr. Sands Cox ; the Eye Hospital, by Mr. Hodgson. As unpaid officers, the members of our profession contribute more than any other class of the community to the support of our Hospitals and Dispensaries ; and proportionately suffer from any administrative abuses which may exist in them. The advocates of the free system are well satisfied of its superiority; while others contend that it is pauperising and demoralising the community with progressive speed. In this conflict of opinion, without pinning our faith to either side, we have a right to examine the whole question thoroughly, with the sole object of ascertaining the truth, and securing the general welfare with which the honour and well-being of our profession are inseparably identified. The urgent need of the moment, and one which we may reasonably hope to do something towards supplying, is accurate knowledge of facts in particular Institutions in different localities.