15. MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEasked how many panel doctors there are in the island of Harris; where are they resident; and what is the population of the island?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe population of the island of Harris is 5,449; the insured population is estimated to be between 100 and 150, for whom two panel doctors are available, one being resident at Obbe, and the other on Berneray Island.
MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEHow are people several miles distant to be looked after, and why is there no panel for them?
§ Mr. MASTERMANA population of 100 cannot support a panel doctor, nor have they ever had a doctor resident in the island. What has happened is that the doctors who have been attending the people up till now have gone on the panel
MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEAre all doctors on the island on the panel, and will the right hon. Gentleman tell us the size of the island?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAs far as I know all the doctors on the island are on the panel.
§ Mr. FREDERICK WHYTEIs not this the very question dealt with in the report of the hon. Member for Inverness-shire, and will it not depend on the action of the Government?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThis House has already passed through Committee a Vote for a special sum to deal with these matters. Everyone recognises the special difficulties of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
17. MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEasked how, in stormy weather, it is possible to get the panel doctor from Eigg to Canna; and, if impossible, can a doctor be got from the mainland if required urgently?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAccording to the last Census the island referred to contained twenty-nine inhabitants, of whom probably less than ten would be insured persons. It would, of course, be impossible to provide a special doctor resident in the island for this number of persons. A contingency of the kind suggested by the Noble Lord might arise, not through any defect in the Act or its administration, but through inherent difficulties of the situation. The whole question of the special circumstances of the Highlands and Islands is under consideration.
MARQUESS of TULLIBARDINEWhat are these men on the island going to do in the meanwhile, as they have to pay, they cannot get a doctor, and the Postmaster-General is going to cut the wires?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThey will have the same right to a doctor and the same possibility of a doctor as they have ever had, with the additional advantage that they will now have money to pay for a doctor, which some of them did not have before.