The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has welcomed the Tánaiste's plan to provide an extra 1,000 acute hospital beds over the next five years but said the initiative "appeared to be overly reliant on the private sector".
"This plan alone cannot deal with the chronic overcrowding which currently afflicts our hospitals," said IMO president Dr Asam Ishtiaq.
"The Health Strategy launched in 2001 by the current Government clearly identified the need for an extra 3,000 beds over 10 years. Almost four years have passed and only 400 beds have been delivered in real terms," he said.
Dr Ishtiaq said a position paper published by the IMO last March pointed to the fact that the health service needs around 15,000 acute beds.
He admitted that private bed capacity could be provided faster than public capacity, but said the private system "cherry picks" elective cases and did not take trauma or emergency cases.
"Capital allowances for private hospitals are a poor use of taxpayers' money; priority should be given to the building of public bed capacity," he added.
The IMO said a report published by the Department of Health and Department of Finance in 2002 revealed that the number of acute hospital beds in Ireland is among the lowest across both EU and OECD countries.
In 2000, the number of beds per 1,000 of the population was 3.1, down from 5.1 in 1980. According to the IMO, the review reported that total hospital activity (excluding outpatients) increased by 57 per cent in that period.
IMO vice president Dr Christine O'Malley said: "Because private hospitals cater to elective patients rather than to emergency or acutely ill patients, private beds don't have the same value for patients as public beds. Private hospitals do not take emergencies, yet 71 per cent of all admissions to public hospitals are emergencies."
Under Ms Harney's plan, the 1,000 beds currently set aside for private patients in public hospitals will be clawed back by transferring private patients to new private hospitals, which will be built by investors on the sites of public hospitals.
Ms Harney said today she was confident hospital consultants would back her plans.
"In many cases at the moment consultants have to travel far distances to do private practice; they travel off the site of the public hospital," she said.
"But the intention here is that the consultants will be kept on site and I think the vast majority of consultants I have spoken to have been very enthusiastic about this proposal. "Given a choice that's what they would prefer to do."
The Tánaiste said any initiatives put in place to improve the health service had to recognise that the State had a mixed health system with 52 per cent of the population on private health insurance.
"There are a whole host of proposals around the country for private hospital initiatives and my intention here was to try to bring some co-ordination to that so that it happens in a planned and sensible and coherent fashion," she said.
The Tánaiste told RTÉ Radio said she was confident the scheme would improve services for staff, consultants and from patients' perspective.
The Department has written to the Health Service Executive to set out the policy and an assessment framework to be used for considering the new hospital proposals.
It costs up to €500,000 to provide a new hospital bed, and about €300,000 a year to staff and run one. Private developers will be bearing this cost under the plan.
Although public hospitals will lose income they get from private patients under the plan - currently they receive €220 million a year from the 2,500 private beds in public hospitals - it is felt the benefit of gaining extra beds in public hospitals will be sufficient compensation.