§ Mr. A. Edwardsasked the Minister of Health if he has considered the complaint from the medical officer of health at Shaftesbury; and if he has any further statement to make on the recent case in that town which was diagnosed as smallpox.
§ Mr. WillinkYes, Sir. I would refer my hon. Friend to the detailed reply which I gave to the hon. Member for Bradford, Central (Mr. Leach) on 16th May about the divergency of medical opinion on this case. When I stated in a previous answer to my hon. Friend that the diagnosis of smallpox had not been confirmed I meant to convey no more than that the diagnosis was not free from doubt, and I am sorry that this expression has lent itself to misinterpretation. I should like to make it clear that I intended no reflection on the clinical skill and judgment of the medical officers who held the case to be one of smallpox, and that I consider that the steps they took with admirable promptitude to prevent the spread of infection were entirely right. I am communicating with them in this sense.