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Refugees:
[ 27 FEBRUARY 1985]
community through the international and voluntary agencies for real and lasting solutions. Finally, my Lords, there will always be pressure for us to do more. It is right that this should be so, for the plight of the world's refugees touches as at every level. I have recited what we are doing in response. I am content to be judged accordingly.
5.13 p.m.
Viscount Buckmaster: My Lords, I think all of your Lordships will agree that this has been a remarkable debate, and for me a very moving one indeed. Everyone would accept that the quality of the speeches has been superb, and it has been a most wide-ranging debate. I am indeed filled with admiration and humility. Admiration at the range and quality of the speeches, and humility at the extent of the gaps in my own knowledge which were revealed.
May I congratulate particularly, as many others have, the noble Viscount, Lord Brentford, who spoke with that poise and self-assurance which I always try to cultivate but so seldom succeed in doing. The noble Lord, Lord McNair, and the noble Lord, Lord Chitnis, both made valuable contributions, and here I should emphasise that their knowledge and experience of the refugee situation is much greater than mine.
I was delighted to hear the voice of the right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Winchester. I hoped that at some stage I might be able to persuade him to speak on my own pet subject of Uganda, but it looks now as if this is impossible. It is a subject dear to my heart, but I cannot say any more about it now. May I also most warmly thank the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition, who always contributes so helpfully and supportively to my speeches on these occasions. I am grateful, too, to the noble Lord the Minister for his helpful replies.
We have covered the ground fully, but since I think I still have a minute or two to spare I must fill in one lacuna. Others were filled in very ably by my noble friend Lord Chitnis about Hong Kong, a subject about which I know nothing at all, but I should like to say a few words about the Palestinian refugees. I had hoped that the noble Lord, Lord Caradon, who, as many of your Lordships know, has an unrivalled knowledge about this sphere, would have been able to contribute. I persuaded him to do so, but in the event he had to go to the United States. We also greatly missed the participation in the debate of the noble Lord, Lord Ennals, whose knowledge of Ockenden, and so on, is quite superb.
Just a few words about the Palestinians because we have all of us spoken about refugees who are suffering. When I opened this debate I said that there are a great many others who, although they are called refugees, are sometimes living in great affluence; and I think particularly of these Palestinian refugees. One sees them all over the Middle East in Saudi Arabia, in Abu Dhabi, and so on, and in Latin America, and they are doing most marvellous work. They are working as doctors, engineers, civil servants, and businessmen, and, let us face it, many of them are earning far more money then most of us in your Lordships' House. I would just make that point.
Finally, I think we would all agree that the language of suffering is universal. It surely now remains for us to
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persuade the world to direct its conscience to the implications of this frightening nightmare. My Lords, I beg leave to withdraw the Motion for Papers.
Motion for Papers, by leave, withdrawn.
5.17 p.m.
Natural Medicine
Viscount Massereene and Ferrard rose to call attention to the recent developments in natural medicine and the need for an independent register of qualified practitioners based on the register of the Institute for Complementary Medicine; and to move for Papers.
The noble Viscount said: My Lords, my reason for putting down this Motion for debate is that I wish to draw attention to the greatly increasing numbers of the public who are now benefiting from the various therapeutic treatment and medicines. The natural medicines, and the therapies, do not impinge in any way on orthodox medicine, surgery, and our excellent emergency services. However, your Lordships may ask why I, of all people, have brought up this matter, since it is not exactly my line of country. I agree, but I have many friends and acquaintances who have had their various aches and pains cured by practitioners in these therapies when their GPs have failed to achieve this.
You may also ask why I have drawn attention to the Institute for Complementary Medicine and why I have put them in my Motion as, in my opinion, they are the most important of the associations dealing in this matter of the therapies. I appreciate that there are other associations and I do not wish to criticise them in any way. All I would say is that I wish that they would all get together and stop being what I would call rather fragmented.
The Institute for Complementary Medicine has 54 branches in the country, apart from its headquarters in Portland Place. Last year it had 4 million consultations and the numbers of these consultations are apparently growing every year. The institute also has an international network of collaborators. It was the first to institute and initiate pure research into natural therapies in the United Kingdom. It also has a good computer-based reference library, including practitioners and their patients, and an information centre totalling 1,200 organisations. That is the chief reason I chose the Institute of Complementary Medicine, because it appears to me that it is the leader in the therapies, though that is only my opinion.
I have often thought that, with a little official encouragement, treatment by qualified practitioners of the five basic therapies would save the National Health Service many millions of pounds. I have always been interested in trying to make suggestions for cutting down public expenditure. Last year the drug bill for the National Health Service was £11⁄2 billion. That is a staggering figure. That sum would build many new hospitals, probably as many as 50 or 60 or even, I am told, up to 70. It would also equip many hospitals with the most up-to-date electronic instruments. It seems absurd that that vast amount of money should be paid out for drugs.
My only personal experience of being cured by therapy treatment was a long time ago. I put my
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