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Aniyan: We need to think abouttomorrow
(Reprinted from the Durham Sun.)
by Charles Jeffries
Many of the federal regulations
regarding hospitals and health care are
"ridiculous," according to Dr. William G.
Aniyan, vice president for health affairs
at Duke University, who added health
care regulations should be the
responsibility of the private sector.
Speaking at the Durham Kiwanis Club
at the Downtowner Motor Lodge last
week, Aniyan said that the federal
government issues conflicting laws
governing health care, offers simplistic
solutions for complex problems and
generally provides little or no money to
implement its regulations.
"The way the federal government
swings in opinions on health care from
administration to administration,"
Aniyan said, "is certainly not conducive to
good, orderly planning of your tax
money," he told his audience.
Depending on who was president
Aniyan cited the several conflicting
regulations that have come from each
federal administration, depending on
who was president.
"In the early '60s, one administration
told us there were not enough doctors,
and we were asked to graduate more.
Then in 1973, the U.S. Department of
Health, Education and Welfare, headed by
Casper Weinberger, asked us to reduce
the number of physicians," he said.
Anylan then criticized the
Occupational Health and Standards Act.
"We would have to spend the entire
Duke Endowment to meet all the
regulations it sends us," Aniyan said.
Nine percent lid unrealistic
As for simplistic solutions, Aniyan said
that the cost-containment measures the
government proposes — a nine percent
lid on the cost of hospital care — are too
a
Mm
much.
"Here at Duke, we have been able to
hold costs down to a six percent increase
last year and a seven percent increase this
Navy grant funds diving study
(Continued from page 7)
at Duke participating in the experiments
which are expected to take 12 months to
complete.
Dr. Peter B. Bennett, director of the
F.G. Hall Laboratory for Environmental
Research (hyperbaric chamber) where
the research is being conducted, said that
this is the first time the Navy has supplied
divers for a protracted series of diving
experiments in a non-military setting.
He said Dr, John Miller, assistant
professor of anesthesiology, will serve as
medical director for the studies.
Not for sports
The Swimmer Life Support System is
expected to have important military and
commercial uses, but is unlikely to catch
on with sport divers any time soon,
Bennett said.
Units now being tested cost about
$10,000 each to manufacture, he added.
The Office of Naval Research and the
Naval Medical Research and
Development Command awarded the
contract.
year. But to say that nine percent should
be the limit, especially for the small
community hospital is ridiculous," he
said.
Another example cited by Aniyan was a
recently proposed ceiling on the amount
of money that could be used in research at
the veterans hospitals, $100,000.
Socialized medicine
Another sour note with Aniyan and the
federal government, was socialized
medicine — a system where all citizens
would receive free medical care,
regardless of income.
"Our system here in the United States
is very different from that in Great
Britain, where there is socialized
medicine. The expectations of Americans
are much higher than those of Britains
and socialized medicine could not meet
them," he said.
Aniyan described the system of
socialized medicine in Great Britain as
"pathetic" and said "I hope it never
reaches this country."
He did say he would favor some sort of
system that would use both public and
private resources to deal with the rising
cost of medical care.
Seven priorities of health care
Anylan then gave what he believed to
be the seven priorities of health care in
the country:
—Educate the public better about
health problems, treatment and
prevention.
—The need for a birth control program
in this country, noting his disagreement
with both HEW Secretary Joseph
Califano and President Carter on their
anti-abortion stands.
Before problems occur
—Genetic counseling, research into the
matching of parents to reduce the
occurrence of mental illness and birth
defects.
—The need to enhance the system of
monitoring newborn children.
—The need for more preventive health
care for adults: "We don't need to see a
doctor every time we hurt," he said, "if we
did, we would have to multiply the
number of doctors we have by ten."
More research technology
—And to increase the amount of
money in research technology, citing
such advances as using one blood sample
for 18 different tests, the reduction of the
number of days that heart attack patients
stay in the hospital (see related story on
page 1) and the use of the new
computerized X-ray machine.
"There is a burgeoning role of the
federal government in medicine. We
should maximize the involvement of the
private citizen and minimize the
government's," he said.
"Politicians think of what is best for
today, and not for tomorrow."
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'fmmMWm
BRIDGE BETWEEN TWO HOSPITALS—A crane and several workmen install a section of the
bridge which will carry the persohnel rapid transit (PRT) across the deep ravine between the Bell
and Mudd Buildings as it runs between the present hospital and Duke Hospital North. Even
though the PRT guideway has not been completed, its north-south path is now quite evident.
Another chapter in the Duke Hospital North story will be presented in the second edition of
"Looking North," which will be publisl^ed with Heartbtal Feb. 22. (Photos by John Baton)