9
Melical Officer.
Section 2 of this Ordinance also requires
every registered practitioner to have an address in the Colony
so that all notices from the Medical Board can be served on
him at Chat address.
register.
This address will appear in the
E. Section E of this Ordinance makes in section 7 of the
principal Ordinance an amendment which is not strictly neces-
-Bary but which will be a useful reminder of the fact that
medical practitioners have to take out an ammel certificate
under the Stamp Ordinance, 1921. Section 21 of the Stamp
Ordinance, 1921, provides that, inter alias, a medical prac-
titioner is not entitled to recover any fees unless
(a) he was in possession of a valid certificate ic
practise at the time when the cause of action arosĄ,
6.
(b) he is at the time of judgment in possession of a
certificate covering the time when the cause of
action arose.
Section 6 (2) of this Ordinance repeals section 13 (4)
This sub-section is no longer
of the principal Ordinance.
necessary as the new section 18 to be enacted by section 10
of this ordinance gives to the applicant for registration a
right to appeal against the decision of the Board if they
refuse to register him. The new sub-section requires the
applicant for registration to furnish the Medical Board with
an address to which ell notices can be sent, and requires a
notice of the decision of the Medical Board to be served on
the applicant at that address.
7.
Section 7 of this Ordinance repeals section 14 of the
principal Ordinance and substitutes a new section which deals
with all the powers of the Medical Board with regard to
Page
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age 9
10
striking off or censure.
It will be seen below that section
10 of this Ordinance enacts a new section 18 in the principal
Ordinance which deals solely with the appeal to the Governor
in Council and cmits the references to the powers of the
Medical Board which appear in section 18 of the principal
Ordinance. The new features in the new section 14 are as
follows.
8.
•
The Medical Board is given power to censure It seems
obvicus that this power might be of great use in keeping up
the standard of the profession, 98 3 0989 aight clearly call
a8 2
for censure but not for striking off.
9.
Section 14 of the principal Ordinance gave
•
power lo
A
strike off a registered practitioner who had been "convicted
of any felony ce mi sdemeancu?” The meaning of the term
misdemeanour is not quite clear. Some authorities, (e.g.,
Russell) treat it as including all offences below the rank
of felony, while others, (e.g., Halsbury and Kenny) regard
it as applying only to indictable offences below the rank of
felony.
If the term has the wider meaning, the expression
"felony or misdemeanour" includes all offerces, except,per-
-baps, piracy jure gentium, and there seems to be no reason
why the single word "offences" should not be used instead.
If on the other hand, the term isdemeanour does not include
offences punishable only on summary conviction, it seems
preferable to use the word "offence" in this section, because
there may be purely summary offences, 2.g., illicit dealing
in opium, which would justify considering the question of
striking off a registered practitioner. The new section 14,
therefore, uses the single word "offence",
10.
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Pag
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11
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10. The Medical Board is given direct power to strike off,
subject of course to an appeal to the Governor.
The section
in the principal Ordinance merely provided for a report from
the Medical Board Lc the Colonial Secretary.
11. The Medical Board is expressly given the right to pub -
-lish the result of any inquiry held under this section, either with or without an account of the proceedings. Without
express statutory power publication of a censure or of the proceedings at an inquiry might conceivably lay the members of the Board open to a claim for damages for libel.
12.
Sub-section (3) of the new section 14 gives the Medical
Board power to strike off any person who obtained registra-
-Lion by fraud or misrepresentation, and any person who was
not, at the time of registration, entitled to be registered.
With regard to the latter part of the preceding sentence, it is possible to imagine a case of registration by mistake
without any fraud or misrepresentation.
13.
Sub-section (4) of the new section 14 expressly requires
that reasonable notice of ary proposed inquiry shall be served
on the person concerned.
14.
Sub-section (3) of the new section 14 provides that no
person shall be struck off the register, and no publication of any censure, etc., shall be made, until fourteen days after a notice of the decision of the Medical Board has been served
on the person concerned. Sub-section (5) requires a notice
of the decision of the Medical Board to be served on the per-
-son concerned. Sub-section (6) provides that in the case
of an appeal striking off on publication shall await
decision of the Governor in Council.
the
15. Section 8 of this Ordinance is now and provides a method
of serving notices under the Ordinance.
Notices are to be
sent to the address on the register, or, if the person be not
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