§ 12. Mr. BARRasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the fact that it has recently been laid down by the deputy-director of sanitary service in Kenya that the minimum for a large rural native district, containing 100,000 to 200,000 people, is one district medical officer, one medical officer of health, one dispensary medical officer, two European nursing sisters, one European sanitary inspector, and possibly a European hospital assistant and a storekeeper, and, in addition, an adequately trained native subordinate staff, a hospital with accommodation for about 100 patients and from 6 to 12 out-dispensaries; whether this standard is in force in any of His Majesty's Colonies; and whether pressure is brought to bear on the Governments to increase their medical staffs up to this standard?
§ Mr. AMERYMy attention has been drawn to the interesting address to the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in which this statement occurred. So far as I am aware the standard suggested has not been endorsed by any Colonial Government and as the medical requirements of the Colonies differ so greatly it would be impracticable to regard such a suggestion as a general standard of administration. Oversea Governments are everywhere endeavouring to maintain a medical staff adequate to their requirements and I am glad to say that in some of the African territories a relatively high standard has already been achieved.