§ 19. Dr. CHAPPLEasked whether the Secretary for the Colonies has received any report concerning the investigation of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine into the prevalence and spread of contagious disease in the island of Jamaica?
Mr. HARCOURTMy hon. Friend no doubt refers to the investigation of "vomiting sickness." I have not yet received a report upon it, but I expect to do so soon.
§ 20. Dr. CHAPPLEasked the Secretary for the Colonies whether he will call for a report from the Governor of Jamaica on the system of medical service on the island, with a view to its reorganisation in order to meet the pressing needs of the population?
Mr. HARCOURTThe information at my disposal indicates that the medical service of Jamaica is as good as financial exigencies permit, and that every attention is being paid to its improvement. In these circumstances I should not feel justified in calling for a detailed report, but I will invite the Governor to say whether he considers that there are any serious grounds for dissatisfaction with the present system.
§ 21. Dr. CHAPPLEasked what. is the number of hospital beds in the Island of Jamaica; how many are proportioned to indentured coolies; to how many estates 2487 these coolies are attached; and what is the proportion of hospital beds to the total population?
Mr. HARCOURTThe total provision of hospital beds in the Colony, so far as can be ascertained, amounts to 1,504, of which 207 are in the coolie wards of the various hospitals; the total population of the island, according to the Census taken in 1911, is 831,383 persons; there are about seventy estates employing indentured labourers.
§ Dr. CHAPPLEAre the natives not now excluded from the hospital? May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether it would not be possible to so increase the hospital accommodation and improve the treatment of the natives that their efficiency as workers would be increased and they would, eventually, be fitted to take the place and do the work of indentured coolies to a greater extent than they at present do?
Mr. HARCOURTI cannot answer that in detail, but I should hardly think, as there are 207 beds in the coolie wards as against 1,504 for the whole of the Island of Jamaica, that the assumption is justified.
§ 22. Dr. CHAPPLEasked the Secretary for the Colonies whether he will take steps to provide that increased facilities are given to ordinary medical practitioners in the Island of Jamaica for visiting the hospitals and for rendering such service as wil enable them more effectively to cope with the increasing mass of contagious and other diseases?