§ 9. Dr. Strossasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the death rate due to pulmonary tuberculosis per 100,000 of the population for Uganda, British Honduras, Mauritius, Sierra Leone and Singapore, respectively.
Mr. Creech JonesThe 1947 figure for Mauritius was 38.38 and for Singapore 155.
In British Honduras, the number of deaths certified by medical practitioners as being caused by pulmonary tuberculosis gives a rate of 70 per 100,000 of the population, but only about 45 per cent. of total deaths are so certified.
I regret that it is not possible to give figures for Sierra Leone or Uganda. In these territories arrangements for registration of deaths are still incomplete.
§ Dr. StrossIs the Secretary of State aware that all the figures given are inevitably on the low side owing to inadequate notification, and can we have an assurance that, if he accepts this, he also accepts that conditions there are inadequate for the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis, and that we will do all we can to improve them?
Mr. Creech JonesConditions are inadequate, and it is regrettable that the circumstances in most of these Colonies make the preparation of vital statistics and other figures very difficult indeed.