§ 71. Mr. Grovesasked the Minister of Health whether he is aware of the dissatisfaction among members of the medical profession arising from the fact that many medical men making application for commissions in the Services have been referred to a voluntary organisation of medical men to which they do not belong and to which they have no desire to make application; and whether he will consider consultation with the Medical Practitioners' Union in order that their views can be presented side by side with that of the British Medical Association?
§ Mr. ElliotI would refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave him on this subject on 26th October. I have no reason to believe that the medical profession in general is dissatisfied with the arrangements made by the Central Medical War Committee for the supply of doctors to the Forces.
§ Mr. GrovesIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that minorities have rights and should not the Medical Practitioners Union be consulted?
§ Mr. ElliotThe hon. Member, who is acquainted with all these problems of organisation, knows that in some circumstances one must take a central organisation as, at any rate, the commencement of steps for consulting a profession or any other body of persons.
§ Mr. GrovesIf this is only a beginning, I am satisfied.
§ Sir Francis FremantleIs it not a fact that the central organisation is not the British Medical Association but the Civil War Medical Committee, which includes others besides the British Medical Association?
§ Mr. ElliotThat is so.