§ 43. Sir PHILIP MAGNUSasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether, having regard to the fact that many of the younger university medical students of military age have been reproached for not having joined the forces of the Crown, he will state whether it is considered preferable that such students in their first or second year should accept some military position or should continue their medical studies with a view to qualification?
§ Mr. TENNANTI am not aware of the reproaches to which the hon. Member refers. It is clear that, if students in their first or second years join the combatant ranks in very large numbers there will probably be for some years after the War a serious scarcity of doctors. Any expression therefore of official opinion which might seem to place on them the obligation of taking up immediate military duty would hardly be in the interests either of the Army or of the community as a whole.