MORE than 200 babies screened for TB over the past two weeks after a Medway midwife was found to have the disease, are all safe.

The Kent Health Protection Unit said yesterday that all the babies had tested negative.

"We are almost there now-given one or two babies-and we will keep the screening option open for them, and any others that want screening, for the next four weeks," said a unit spokesman.

"We did not expect to find any baby with the disease and things have gone to plan.

"We will obviously announce it if we do find a Medway baby who tests positive."

The parents of 246 babies born between January 2002 and February this year have been contacted and asked to bring their children for screening and vaccination.

The community midwife at the centre of the tuberculosis scare was involved in the care and delivery of all the babies.

At a press briefing last month at Medway Maritime Hospital, Dr Mathi Chandrakumar, clinical director of the Kent Health Protection Unit, and Dr Ian O'Brien, consultant physician for Medway NHS Trust , said there was "no cause for alarm".

They stressed that the risk of infection was "very low" and screening and vaccination of the babies was "a precaution."