§ Mr. Hamlingasked the Minister of Health what is the most recent estimate of the number of British doctors emigrating overseas.
§ Mr. K. RobinsonThe best estimate available is that on average the net loss of British doctors by emigration is between 300 and 350 a year. My Department is engaged on studies to provide more exact statistics.
188WIncorrect deductions have been drawn from the inclusion in the Report of the Oversea Migration Board for 1964 of an estimate of a net balance of 900 doctors leaving the United Kingdom for all destinations for one year or more. This figure relates to people who described themselves to interviewers as doctors, and not all of whom will have been qualified medical practitioners; it covers moreover people who are citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies of whom some would not normally be resident in Britain and others would not be emigrating for good. The sample used for purposes of the report was in any event so small that, as the report indicates the estimated total derived therefrom is subject to a wide margin of error.