HC Deb 01 May 1957 vol 569 cc187-8
30. Mr. Rankin

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies which territories employ fully trained nutrition workers; and which have sent medical officers, teachers, nurses, or other personnel for detailed courses in this subject which is of such great importance to the health of the community.

Mr. Profumo

As the answer is long, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Rankin

As an interim measure, would the Minister answer one or two points? Is it the case that in the whole of the Colonial Empire only two dependent territories have fully-trained nutrition officers, namely, Nigeria and Uganda?

Mr. Profumo

I think it would be better if the hon. Gentleman looked at my Answer and then, if he is not satisfied, I will gladly try to answer in detail any point he might like to put down in a Question. The Answer is extremely long as the Question is a most detailed one.

Mr. Rankin

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Will you give me your guidance on this point? The Minister has said that my Question is answered in an answer which it is too long to read just now now. Does it reply to the point that I have raised?

Mr. Speaker

I cannot tell the hon. Gentleman that because I have not seen the Answer. If he is not satisfied with the Written Answer, he then has the right to put down another Question. There is no point of order in that at all. The hon. Gentleman should know that.

Following is the reply:

The Uganda Government employ a fully trained medical and a non-medical nutritionist; the Nigerian Federal Government have a medically qualified nutrition adviser; the Governments of Fiji and the Eastern Region of Nigeria and the South Pacific Health Service employ full-time non-medical nutritionists, and in the Federation of Malaya there are fully-trained workers in the division of nutrition of the Institute for Medical Research.

There is considerable knowledge of this subject, and much work done on it, within the health services of other territories. Barbados, British Guiana, Jamaica, Kenya, Malaya, Malta, Tanganyika, Trinidad, Zanzibar, the Leeward and Windward Islands and the three Regions of Nigeria have sent students to the Applied Nutrition Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, while a number of Caribbean territories have sent students for training in Canada or the United States.