§ 12. Rev. LI. Williamsasked the Minister of Health if he will take action to include in the National Health Service the charges made by medical practitioners for the second certification required by law in cases of cremation.
§ Mr. Iain MacleodNo, Sir. I do not think it would be appropriate to include this in the duties of a medical practitioner under the National Health Service.
§ Rev. LI. WilliamsDoes the Minister not agree that this certification examination, by the very nature of things, must be very cursory and superficial and that in the case of poor people the imposition of the two guineas charge is intolerable.
§ Mr. MacleodThe reasons for the examination are well known. I would not agree that it is necessarily a cursory examination. It entails a separate visit and a separate examination by a doctor who has not attended the patient before death and it is, therefore, not a service of treatment in the ordinary sense of the words.