37.
asked the Minister of Health whether he can give, by counties, the number of reported tuberculosis cases and the shortage of beds needed to accommodate patients?
I am uncertain for what figures my hon. Friend is asking in the first part of the Question, and I am communicating with him on this. As the reply to the second part involves a number of figures, I will, with permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
In view of the increasingly serious position with regard to tuberculosis, will my right hon. Friend exert a little more pressure—I know that he has exerted some—on the Ministry of Supply to release the material necessary to complete a lot of sanatoria?
We are doing all we can, but the House is aware that the priorities are considerable.
Is it not possible to transfer beds from places where there is not sufficient staff and where there are empty beds to places where they are required?
That is another issue, but I do not think it would solve the problem.
Following are the figures: