Report and evidence into the pay, status and conditions of service of medical officers of the army, with evidence concerning the Indian Service.

Great Britain. War Office. Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Pay, Status, and Conditions of Service of Medical Officers of the Army.

Date:: 1890

Credit: Report and evidence into the pay, status and conditions of service of medical officers of the army, with evidence concerning the Indian Service. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

48/150 (page 32)

$a iiiiinber of old ladies aud gentlemen who fancy doctors ought to know their constitutions ; I think there has been a great deal too much said about that. I do not beMcA^e in it. 671. Do not you know that it is the case amongst Staff officers in various places, especially in the case of married people, that where they get a doctor from day to day changed, they go to a civil practitioner, and do not go to the officer attached to the Medical Staff Corps ?—Some officers do, but some very distin- guished officers do not. 672. That is in cases where there is a medical officer told off to the Staff, as in Portsmouth, but not in places where there is a medical officer not told off?—No. One must admit that there has been a great deal too nmch changing of medical officers, that is the fault of our administration, because we were more or less new to it, and our principal medical officer in that respect had not sufficient knowledge of organization perhaps, and did not manage well, but I think that difficulty is dying' out; I think we are improving in that respect. 673. Dr. Graham Balfour. Would not the system of attaching- medical officers to regiments prove prejudicial by removing them from the control of the principal medical officer of the district or of the command ? Is it not an advantage to the principal medical officer of the district to be able to order any medical officer whom he thinks qualified for a particular duty to undertake that duty, without requiring to ask permission of the officer commanding the regiment to which the man may be attached ?— JSfo doubt it is an advantage. 674. Have you ever found any professional diffi- culty in taking over the charge of a body of soldiers with whom you have not been previously serving ?— Never. Every man has a medical sheet on which there is a complete history of every disease that he has ever suffered from, from the day he came into the Service. 675. That was introduced on the recommendation of Lord Herbert's Commission ?—I believe it was. 676. Mr. ]\facnamarn. I understand you to say that, in the words of their commissions, medical officers when a])pointed receive the rank of surgeons?— They do. 677. In existing army warrants is there a meaning or definition of this term given ?—No. 678. And in a service g'overned by precedence therefore the medical officer has no properly defined place ?—Quite so; he is given a commission as a surgeon; he is a surgeon before he gets that Commission; it is giving him nothing; it is giving him no title of any sort; he has been made a surgeon by the College of Surgeons before that. 679. Keiterated statements liave appeared in print to the effect that of 922 medical officers, no less than 75 per cent, have expressed their belief that it is necessary for the efficient working of the medical service that military surgeons should be granted military titular i-ank ; do you think that this opinion exists and is shared by so large a proportion of the medical officers of the arm3' ?—I am certain of it, aiid I am certain that there is an increasing number. Oiily two days ago I spoke to two medical officers who I know used to hold views contrary to this, and who thought we should not have military rank. I said, '• I know I differ from you, and they said, You are mistaken; we never wanted to be made Majors or Colonels ; but we see from the duties imposed upon us there is no other course open. 680. According to the wording of their commissions, which I have before me, given to surgeons on enter- ing the army, they are directed to exercise authority according to the rules and discipline of war over junior officers and subordinates employed in the Medical Department and over the soldiers of the Army Hos- pital Corps, and over all soldiers and others attached thereto, and over all patients in military hospitals ; those are the words of the commission, and the officers and soldiers referied to possess substantive rank and military titular rank, do they not ?—Yes they do. At this moment I command men not only of the rank, but with the title of Captain, Lieutenant. Sergeant-Major, Sergeant, Corporal, private, and bugler, and I am the only man without military rank. 681. It is further stated that medical officers not only command, bnt have power to punish and to pro- mote soldiers of the Medical Staff Corps at home and in the colonies, and that they have similar powers over the Army Hospital Native Corps in India ; that they have European orderlies, and are responsible for the arms and accoutrements of men in hospital, and for large quantities of military stores and equipage; is this the case ?—It is. 682. Prom your experience in India, do you think this statement which I received by the last mail from a Brigade Surgeon actually represents the work which an officer in that capacity might probably have to perform. He writes: I have charge of the station hospital, containing at present 413 European patients, with 25 European orderlies, 14 medical officers, 14 warrant officers, and 150 men of the Army Hospital Native Corps; in all about 600 officers and men, over whom I am obliged by regulations to exercise command, aud I am also Paymaster, Quarter- master and Barrack-master, and perform all the duties of Colonel of the regiment, in addition to my medical duties. Do you think that is a fair repre- sentation of what would be expected of a Brigade Surgeon in India ?—I should say so. 683. There is this difference, however, between the Colonel and the Brigade Surgeon, is there not, that the Brigade Surgeon is only drawing 37 rupees a month more than he did nine j'ears ago, in consequence of the privileges of the Warrant of 1879 not having been extended to India; whereas the Colonel draws double the pay in India which he would draw in this country ?—That I believe is so. There might be a good deal said about the question of our pay. 684. And I understand you to assert that from your experience in the existing organization of the Army Medical Service, you believe it is necessary that medical officers should have military titles and rank in every respect the same as that of combatant or officers of the other departments of the Army, but to have no command beyond that which is defined in their commissions ?—Quite so; I think it is thrust upon lis; I think Ave are compelled to take it. 685. You believe that during the past fifteen years surgeons have gradually had military duties imposed upon them, such as render it necessary for their effi- cient performance that they should be granted mili- tary rank and titles ?—Yes. 686. The Chairman. But no duties have been imposed upon them during the last fifteen years?— We have got the whole charge of the hospitals; we have the discipline. 687. Had you not that fifteen years ago?—No; fifteen years ago I was not in charge of a hospital; the Colonel of the regiment was in charge of it. I was not in charge, I Avas merely the doctor ; I Avas little else than a civilian doctor dressed up in uniform, 688. Mr. Macnamara. Would you extend Article 332 of the Royal Warrant with regard to the appoint- ment of medical officers in the British service to the Avhole of the appointments; house physicians and house surgeons being appointed from the various recognized hospitals directly into the medical service ? —I think that a great deal might be done in the way of extending this, if men Avho had proved themselves of great ability as house physicians and house surgeons had the preference. I am not prepared to _ say yet that we should abolish competitive examinations, though it looks very much as if they Avere on the downfall at present. 689. Lieutenant-Colonel Cotton. Have J'ou ever been since 1867 on any Board or Coiu-t of Enquiry except because a* medical opinion Avas necessary ; have you ever served as an ordinary combatant or other officei' ? I ask you the question because just$