PENICILLIN (MERCHANT SHIPS) BILL [Lords] (Hansard, 23 January 1951)

§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health (Mr. Blenkinsop)
I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."
This is a very minor Measure to enable penicillin to be administered in the treatment of merchant seamen on ships where there is no ship's doctor. Under the Penicillin Act, 1947, it was provided that penicillin and other similar substances which were to be defined by regulation, should not be sold, supplied or administered except by a doctor, dentist or veterinary surgeon or by someone acting under their direction. It was very proper that such a Measure should be 74 passed to ensure that there was no indiscriminate use of penicillin—which might indeed have serious results. In any Measure we take to ensure that in cases of this kind a merchant seaman shall receive proper treatment for illnesses or injuries that occur on board ship we must be careful to see that there are proper precautions, as well.
It will be seen that, while the first Clause of this small Measure enables penicillin treatment to be given, it is made clear in subsection (2) that this treatment should be given under the instructions included in the medical guide kept on board merchant ships under the Merchant Shipping Act, 1894. Revisions of that guide are now being made to incorporate these necessary instructions on how penicillin shall be used at sea where there is not a doctor on board. The revised edition of the guide will be available in a very short time after the passing of this Measure.
There is one other point I should mention. Not only does this guide kept on board under the Act of 1894 give necessary instructions on how treatment should be carried out, but also, under Section 240 of the same Act, a record must be kept of any illnesses and of the treatment used, and that record is open to the shore medical authorities for examination. I said that the 1947 Penicillin Act did provide for these necessary precautions against the indiscriminate use of penicillin and any other similar substances that might be scheduled under regulations. The only other substance so far mentioned under regulation is streptomycin. It is not proposed that streptomycin should be made available in this way. Under medical advice we are assured that this is not necessary or desirable at the present time. Should it be found to be necessary we should, of course, include the necessary instructions in the guide, and this Bill would permit of such instructions being given.
This Measure has the approval of all responsible bodies concerned, and I think we can be all glad that in future penicillin will be available for seamen suffering from diseases arising from cut hands or anything of that kind where it is now regarded as essential in treatment to prevent a very much more serious condition arising. It will now be possible to 75 treat them with modern medicines, whilst at the same time reserving the necessary safeguards in the use of those medicines.

§ Lieut.-Colonel Elliot (Glasgow, Kelvingrove)
I am sure there will be no objection in any part of the House to this Bill which, as the Parliamentary Secretary said, came from another place where it was regarded as entirely non-controversial. It is a remarkable feature of medical development that penicillin which, within a comparatively small number of years ago was regarded as a most recondite remedy to be used with the greatest care and the supplies of which were very short indeed, should now be so universally available as to be administered under advice where no medical man is present.
It throws a considerable responsibility of course, on the master or mate of the vessel to whom falls the duty of administering it, and also even more on those who draw up the medical guide. There is a classic story of a master who recorded in his book that he had run out of Remedy 13 but that by a judicious combination of Remedy 8 and Remedy 5 he had succeeded in bridging the gap, to use a popular expression nowadays. The guide will need to be drawn up with considerable care. The Parliamentary Secretary said it would be available very soon. Will it be within the next fortnight or three weeks?

§ Mr. Blenkinsop
I understand that if there should be any last minute difficulties about issuing the guide an explanatory leaflet will be issued in its place in the interim, and that would take a matter of two or three weeks.

§ Lieut.-Colonel Elliot
I am sure that will be very much to the advantage of everyone concerned. The necessity for the limitation of the use of this remedy arises out of the unfortunate habit of micro-organisms of learning by experience. We used to think that this quality was confined to the higher organisms, but it is much more widely spread than we had previously conceived. It is wonderful what those little creatures can learn about the ways in which we are attempting to circumvent them; as are the counter-measures they are taking. I be- 76 lieve it was said of my right hon. Friend the Member for Woodford (Mr. Churchill) on one occasion that, being assailed by infection during the war, the official remedy was not proving so efficacious as had been hoped, and that the drama of this caused the right hon. Gentleman's eyes to light up immediately. He said, "Ah, it is their finest hour."
Unfortunately, some of these modern remedies actually produce a reduction of the micro-organisms and may, if injudiciously used, make it more difficult instead of less difficult to cure some of these conditions. It is desirable, therefore, that these remedies should be used with great discretion and it is for that reason that Parliament originally imposed the limitation. It is, however, found necessary to make this exception and I am sure that, with appropriate instructions and an appropriate record kept—which is perhaps more important in these cases than in others—the remedy will be used to the benefit of all concerned. My hon. Friends and myself will certainly not oppose the Second Reading of the Bill.

§ Mr. Maclay (Renfrew, West)
I agree entirely with everything said by the right hon. and gallant Member for Kelvingrove (Lieut.-Colonel Elliot) except that I cannot follow him into the more fascinating part of his speech about the battle with the Divine. I do not think it would be appropriate if we allowed the Second Reading of this Bill to pass without paying a tribute to the very remarkable work which has been done in' years past by ships' masters with the aid of just the ship's medicine chest. They have shown themselves capable of treating most abstruse illnesses with great effect and I have been told that one of their best weapons has been the bottle of purely medicinal port which always goes into the medicine chest. With the added power to use penicillin I am sure there will be a great step forward which will be welcomed by seafarers on all sorts of ships which do not carry a medical officer.