RIBBLE Valley Tory MP Nigel Evans has highlighted the potentially fatal consequences of the Millennium 'bug' on health and other public services.

In a special Commons debate on the Year 2000 problem he accused the Government of complacency and "dragging its feet" and warned that hospital and other medical equipment is particularly at risk.

It is understood there are millions of embedded chips in all kinds of medical equipment used by the NHS.

Mr Evans, a front bench constitutional spokesman and MP for Ribble Valley, intends to highlight the concerns about the NHS expressed by the recent report on the problem by the National Audit Office.

The NHS boss Sir Alan Langlands admitted he could not guarantee that no patient would die as a result of Year 2000 equipment failure at the turn of the Millennium.

He said: "We have systematically assessed all the risks. We will continue to do so. Of course I can't guarantee a 'yes' response to your question. I don't think you would expect me to."

The estimated cost to the NHS of ensuring all its systems are "millennium compliant" has risen to £320 million from £230 million when the National Audit Office reported in May. But Sir Alan said the figure was small compared to the annual £1 billion spent on equipment and £200 million on IT. Mr Evans believes that the National Audit Office estimate of the cost of putting things right in the NHS of £850 million was much closer to the real sum needed than the organisation's own £320 million figure. Mr Evans said:"I am very concerned about the NHS.

"There are millions of chips involved in vital equipment. If the problem is not properly dealt with people will die and suffer greatly." He is accusing the Government of complacency in the face of the problem and of earmarking too little to deal with the problem.

Mr Evans is to accuse the Government of "dragging its feet" on the issue and failing to follow the example of the far more active US Government or many private businesses which were far further ahead in preparing for the problem.

The MP also wants an advertising campaign like that for self-assessment to alert people to the danger - even if it was almost too late.

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