On representative government in the British Medical Association / by Sampson Gamgee.

  • Gamgee, Sampson, 1828-1886.
Date:
[1883]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: On representative government in the British Medical Association / 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.

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    Tt having fallen to my lot to be one of the witnesses exan-.ined before the Royal Commissioners on the Medical Acts, I know how desirous they were for information on this point. Do the profession ask for direct representation on the General Medical Council, in order to guard and promote their material interests ? I was most careful, and so were the other witnesses who advocated direct representation, in tendering assurance of professional disinterestedness. We agreed in substance in saying that we only desire to assist, by our representatives, in making the Council more worthy and efficient, for medical education and registration in the national interest. It follows, that on the British Medical Association must devolve the duty of guarding over the professional interests of its members in their corporate capacity, for it is quite certain that, if we do not look after our own affairs, those outside our ranks will not help us. If the General Medical Council is only to direct education and registration, what organisation is so well fitted, as that of the British Medical Association, to aid its constituents in safeguarding their special interests ? In a body of ten thousand members, rapidly growing, no machinery is better suited to purposes of government and administration, than that of constitutional representation, that which Sir Charles Hastings distinguished as absolute, and which is now conventionally, but very explicitly, called direct. In applying the principle in its entirety, some difficulties will have to be surmounted ; but if we prove our sincerity, by carrying it out with ten thousand members, they will become educated to the franchise, and the experience will be valuable in extending the l)rinciple to the twenty-three thousand registered members of the profession, who would be the constituents of direct representatives on the General Medical Council. If with the organisation of branches spread over the United Kingdom, and with the ii,ooo copies of its weekly journal, the British Medical Association cannot give full effect to the principle of direct representation, can it in honor advocate its use as an mstrument to influence the Universities and the Medical Council in a reformed medial act ?