§ 12. Mr. Messerasked the Minister of Health whether he can give figures showing the number and percentage of nurses employed in general hospitals who contract pulmonary tuberculosis; and what relation these figures bear to those employed in tuberculosis sanatoria?
§ Mr. E. BrownI regret that no such figures as my hon. Friend mentions are available. I would point out, however, that in the Report of the Medical Research Council Committee on Tuberculosis in War-Time published in October last it was stated that evidence from other countries and expert opinion in our own suggest that the risk of contracting tuberculosis from nursing tuberculosis patients in sanatoria is no greater than that involved in general hospital nursing. It may also be noted that in the Registrar-General's Decennial Supplement of 1931 regarding occupational mortality it was observed that mortality statistics provided no evidence of special occupational risk of tuberculosis infection in the nursing profession.
§ Mr. MesserAs this question was put directly to establish that point, is it riot possible to get statistics, because tuberculosis is notifiable, and it ought to be easy?