LABOUR leader Jeremy Corbyn wished a happy birthday yesterday to the first person born in the NHS on the 70th anniversary of the health service.
Welsh-born Aneira Thomas, who also turned 70, was born one minute past midnight on July 5 1948 in Glanamman hospital, west Wales, and was named in honour of NHS founder Aneurin Bevan. If she had been born one minute before midnight her parents would have had to pay one shilling and sixpence in old money.
Mr Corbyn’s video message was delivered at a special Unison gala dinner at the Cardiff City stadium, where she was presented with a birthday cake and the individual contributions of public service workers were also celebrated.
He said: “You’re a symbol of the world’s first comprehensive health service, built on the principle that healthcare should be available to all on the basis of need, not ability to pay.
When privatisation is already so deeply embedded in the NHS, we can’t just blindly argue for ‘more funding’ to solve its problems, explain ESTHER GILES, NICO CSERGO, BRIAN GIBBONS and RATHI GUHADASAN
