§ Mr. WelshTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many referrals to the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme there have been; and what research into Gulf War syndrome the programme sponsors. [96063]
§ Mr. SpellarAt 27 October 1999 there had been 3,128 referrals to the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme (GVMAP). The GVMAP does not sponsor research into Gulf veterans' illnesses. Its two main purposes are
to investigate patients' medical complaints, make a diagnosis as far as is possible, and recommend appropriate management, or provide reassurance if no illness is found;to collate statistical information in an anonymised form as a resource for researchers.As part of this second role, a paper on the clinical findings from the first 1,000 patients seen by the GVMAP was published in the British Medical Journal on 30 January 1999. This was the first time that the results of clinical examinations of a large number of UK Gulf veterans had been published. A paper on the clinical findings from the second 1,000 patients is in preparation and will be submitted for publication later this year.