§ 39. Dr. Barnett Strossasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies how many tuberculosis officers, who are graduates in medicine, are employed in the African Colonial Service; how many of them are Africans; and, of these, how many have received their training in tuberculosis work in Africa.
Mr. Creech JonesA great deal of work on tuberculosis is being done in the Gold Coast and Nigeria, in all the East African territories, and in the Silicosis Bureau in Northern Rhodesia. Some of this work is done by specialist officers, but much by both European and African medical officers who combine it with other public health work. I could not give the figures asked for in the Question without reference to the Governments concerned, and I doubt whether, if the figures were obtained, they would by themselves give a clear picture of all that is going on.
§ Dr. StrossWould my right hon. Friend accept the principle that if this problem is to be solved in the reasonably 2108 near future, the best men for the work would be Africans whose post-graduate training in this special field can be in Africa, where they must meet in their work the same problems as they have to face throughout the whole of the time they are there?