§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will give a breakdown by regional health authority of the numbers of medical personnel and non-medical personnel employed in the National Health Service who have developed AIDS or antibodies to the AIDS virus.
§ Mr. NewtonThe Department does not hold information on the numbers of National Health Service employees who have developed AIDS or who have been identified as antibody positive.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what information he has concerning the number of medical personnel in the United States of America who have developed AIDS or antibodies to the AIDS virus; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonAccording to a report in the journal of the American Medical Association (256 3231 (1986)), 16,748 adults with AIDS reported to the Centres for Disease Control, Atlanta by I May 1986; 922 (5.5 per cent.) were identified as health care workers. Each of these individuals had a history of (other than occupational) exposure known to increase the probability of HIV infection. We are not aware of any published information about health care workers in the United States with antibodies to the AIDS virus.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what is his Department's policy towards supplying the media with details of the numbers and location of medical personnel who have developed AIDS or antibodies to the AIDS virus;
(2) what is his policy towards the degree of publicity to be given to the numbers and whereabouts of doctors in the National Health Service who have contracted AIDs or who have developed AIDS antibodies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. NewtonThe health of medical personnel is subject to the normal rules of medical confidentiality and the Department does not intend that these should be breached in the case of those infected people who have made their376W condition known to their employing authority. Information of this sort would therefore not be made available to the media.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary State for Social Services how the National Health Service is going to make the drug AZT available for treatment of AIDS; and what is the estimated cost of such treatment in 1987.
§ Mr. NewtonThe manufacturers of Retrovir (AZT) have made arrangements with regional National Health Service staff for a distribution mechanism within their regions that will ensure a continuity of supply to those patients prescribed the drug. The cost of treatment in 1987 will depend on the rate of prescription by National Health Service doctors.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services when the drug AZT is to be made available for the treatment of AIDS patients in National Health Service hospitals.
§ Mr. NewtonRetrovir (AZ11') has been available for the treatment of AIDS patients in NHS hospitals since 1 April 1987. There was also limited use of AZT in clinical trials for some months before this.
§ Mrs. Renée Shortasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if the drug AZT is available on the National Health Service.
§ Mr. NewtonYes.