asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he is aware that the infant mortality rate for the burgh of Airdrie was 46 per 1,000 live births, and compares with the figure of 31 for the whole of Scotland, and as a special premature baby unit is needed how soon this can be supplied.

Such a unit is already available at Bellshill Maternity Hospital, only four miles from Airdrie.

Yes, but surely the right hon. and gallant Gentleman knows that the Bellshill unit is overcrowded and that we just cannot get our mothers into it? Is he further aware that the incidence in Coatbridge is even higher than that in Airdrie, and that such a unit would serve both these burghs, which have two of the highest birth rates in Scotland?

The regional hospital board do not consider that a premature unit is needed at Airdrie.