HC Deb 29 June 1950 vol 476 cc258-9W
Mr. Viant

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether the doctors, nursing staff and attendants who looked after the smallpox cases in the recent Glasgow outbreak of smallpox were all volunteers; how often they had been vaccinated; and on what dates they had been vaccinated.

Mr. McNeil

The staff of the smallpox unit at Robroyston Hospital, to which all cases were transferred or admitted immediately the disease was diagnosed, were all persons who had previously volunteered for this duty and had, since volunteering, been vaccinated and re-vaccinated as necessary. Extraction of the detailed records of the considerable number of staff involved would take time and would serve no useful purpose.

Mr. Viant

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland why the Asiatic seaman was discharged from Knightswood Hospital on 23rd March; and why he was taken to the smallpox compound at Robroyston on 26th to 27th March.

Mr. McNeil

This patient, having been diagnosed as suffering from chickenpox, was discharged from Knightswood Hospital on 23rd March on completion of the normal period of quarantine for that disease. Immediately it was established that contacts with the seaman had developed smallpox he was admitted to the smallpox unit at Robroyston Hospital for investigation.

Mr. Viant

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland on what date the baby who died at Robroyston was vaccinated; and whether this vaccination took place in the smallpox compound or at Stobhill, the hospital from which she was removed to the smallpox hospital.

Mr. McNeil

Vaccination was attempted at Stobhill Hospital on 27th March when it became known that the baby had been in contact with smallpox, and again the following day on admission to the smallpox unit at Robroyston Hospital after the disease had been diagnosed.

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