HC Deb 06 May 1948 vol 450 cc1452-3
62. Mr. David Renton

asked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the acute shortage of accommodation and facilities in the U.K. for the treatment of tuberculosis, he will consider revising the form of certification which doctors are obliged to complete before tuberculosis cases are allowed to go to Switzerland, by making the need for treatment the only prerequisite to certification, so that advantage may be taken, of the facilities provided abroad, by a larger number of people in Britain suffering from this disease.

Mr. Glenvil Hall

I regret that it is not possible to provide the unlimited quantity of foreign exchange which the hon. Member's proposal would involve. The Exchange Control Medical Advisory Committee examines all applications for exchange on health grounds and advises whether the medical evidence justifies the provision of currency for treatment abroad.

Mr. Renton

Is the Financial Secretary aware that my proposal does not involve an unlimited amount of foreign exchange? Is he further aware that the present limited facilities for treating tuberculosis in this country have, since the present regulations were made, been further congested by the number of European volunteer workers who have to be treated? Will he give the matter further thought?

Mr. Glenvil Hall

This is a very difficult field. I can say that my right hon. and learned Friend has given a good deal of attention to this matter of whether we can allow currency for people to go to Switzerland if they can be helped at all, but some of these cases can be helped just as much, and sometimes more, elsewhere, sometimes in the sterling area.

Hon. Members

Where?

Mr. Oliver Stanley

Would the right hon. Gentleman look into cases, of which I have had knowledge, where money is given in sufficient quantities to enable these unfortunate people to live in Switzerland but not enough for them to pay for the treatment for which they have gone there?

Mr. Glenvil Hall

I am not clear what the right hon. Gentleman means by "money is given." Is it money given in Swiss currency?

Mr. Stanley

I am sorry not to have put the matter in such precise terms as I should have done to a formalist such as the right hon. Gentleman. I mean where a permit has been granted for sufficient exchange to keep these people alive and not enough for the medical treatment.

Mr. Glenvil Hall

Of course, it is currency that matters, not where the money comes from, but we will look sympathetically into any cases which the right hon. Gentleman may care to bring to our notice.

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