HC Deb 30 July 1889 vol 338 cc1697-8
MR. ALFRED THOMAS (Glamorgan, E.)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that there are no educational vaccination stations in any part of Wales, and that general practitioners, residing within the principality, who desire to attain certificates of competency in the art of vaccination, have to travel long distances in order to obtain them; and, whether he will take steps to remedy this grievance, and order that Cardiff should become the educational vaccination centre for South Wales and Monmouthshire?

* THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (MR. RITCHIE,) Tower Hamlets, St. George's

I can only repeat the answer which I gave to a similar question put to me by the hon. Member for South Glamorgan (MR. Arthur Williams) on July 27 last year, that there is in Wales no vaccination station at which certificates of qualification in vaccination can be obtained, and the Local Government Board are not aware that any serious inconvenience has been occasioned thereby. The College of Physicians, the College of Surgeons, and the Society of Apothecaries now require such a certificate for every candidate for their diploma or licence, and hence most medical men now obtain their certificates before entering on practice. It is not usual to appoint examiners to grant these certificates in towns in which there is no school of medicine. If a medical school should be established in Wales, I should be prepared to consider the question of appointing a person who could give these certificates in Wales.