66. Mr. V. ADAMSasked the Minister of Health whether his attention has been 1718 drawn to the use of convalescent serum for the prevention of infection with measles; whether he is aware that there is difficulty in obtaining adequate supplies of the serum; what steps he proposes to take in order to improve the supply; and whether, in view of the serious after effects of the complaint, he will cause measles to be made a compulsorily notifiable disease?
§ Sir K. WOODThe answers to the first and second parts of the question are in the affirmative. As regards the third part, attention has repeatedly been called in the annual reports of the chief medical officer of my Department to the desirability of collecting and using the serum in co-operation with medical practitioners, and I am not in a position to intervene further, as the matter is one primarily between medical practitioners and their patients. As regards the fourth part of the question, my hon. Friend will be aware that this matter was considered in connection with the Public Health Bill.