§ 15. Mr. KINGasked the Pensions Minister whether in view of the undue proportion of medical men holding positions connected with lunacy who serve upon the Irish Medical Board appointed to determine the degree of disability and decide on the appropriate treatment of discharged soldiers disabled through uncertifiable nerve-strain, he will appoint to this board, in succession to the late head of Belfast asylum, a doctor wholly unconnected with lunacy administration, seeing that these men are not insane; and will he take steps to secure that, not only in cases of re-examination but also in the first medical examination of disabled soldiers of this class, full consideration will be given to the opinion of the man's own doctor and, after discharge from the Army, to the representations of his local pensions committee?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of PENSIONS (Sir. A. Griffith-Boscawen)I am unable to agree 1535 with the hon. Member that there is an undue proportion of medical men holding positions connected with lunacy on the Board to which he refers, but he will be glad to learn that there has already been appointed as President of this Board, in succession to Colonel Graham, a distinguished physician who is in no way connected with lunacy, namely, Dr. McKesack, physician of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, and Clinical Lecturer in Medicine at Queen's University, Belfast. As regards the second part of the question it is obviously not practicable to give consideration to the opinion of the man's own doctor at the time of a soldier's discharge, but in cases of re-examination it is always the practice to give full consideration to such opinion as well as to the representations of the local committees.