Female doctors can be a "burden" on the health service as they often want to take time off work to have children, a Conservative MP has said.
Speaking during a parliamentary debate on Wednesday morning, Anne McIntosh admitted it was a "controversial" thing to say but hoped as a women she would be able to.
"Currently, some 70% of medical students are women and they are well educated and well qualified, but when they go into practice, many marry and have children—it is the normal course of events—and they then often want to work part time," she said.
Thirsk and Malton MP added: "Training what effectively might be two GPs working part time obviously puts a tremendous burden on the health service."
Healthy minister Anna Soubry said McIntosh made "an important point about the unintended consequences of the number of women training as doctors".