Martin and IMO president clash at press conference

The Minister for Health has described the interruption of a press conference today by members of medical professionals' unions as a "PR set piece".

A clearly annoyed Mr Martin reacted to an interjection by the President of the Irish Medical Organisation, Dr James Reilly, by saying press conferences were not opportunities for "trade unions to engage with public negotiations with the minister of the day". The Minister said he had never been in a situation like this since he was appointed to his post.

The row happened at the publication of a progress report by the National Primary Care Strategy Steering Group in Dublin. It centred on the funding allocated to the scheme and also on medical card eligibility.

Speaking from the floor Dr Reilly described the strategy as "dangerous" because it had "it raised the expectations of medical practitioners and patients alike and then failed to deliver."

Dr Reilly claimed Mr Martin had promised to invest €1.3 billion in the primary care system over 10 years. But the funding only reached €12 million before being reduced year on year, he said.  The Department said this evening €7 million had been allocated to the scheme each year in 2003 and 2004.

Mr Martin insisted he had made no promises but accepted that "investment has been less than 100 per cent. We have not been in a position to allocate the degree of investment we would like but it's not all about the money, it's about making sure we have the correct working model."

The provision of this model is the responsibility of the steering group which was established in 2002. Ten implementation projects have been launched throughout the country to test the system.

Prof Ivan Perry, chair of the steering committee, said even if there had been a mass injection of funding there was still a process of change needed which could not happen overnight.

He said the Government should be aiming to make primary health care services free nationwide.  "As a society we should aspire to free universal access to primary care," he claimed. "This should be the long-term aspiration."

Speaking on RTE Radioafter the incident, Dr Reilly denied his interjection was a stunt. "I thought it was appropriate to correct the misinformation the minister was giving."

The Primary Care Strategy, published in 2001, calls for approximately €1.3 billion (at 2001 prices) over ten years for the roll out of between 400 and 600 core primary care teams.

And Dr Reilly asked "where have the 200,000 medical cards he promised with such gusto back in 2001 gone to? Not only have they not been produced but they have actually removed 55,000 off the medical card list.

"We are completely at a loss as to why in this day and age the means income threshold for a medical card is half the minimum wage," said Dr Reilly.

Earlier the Minister said: "I agree we need to increase income thresholds, of course we do, and that is something I want to advocate for, but it is not always one-way traffic."

Mr Martin said the GMS and GPS schemes were costing the taxpayer a fortune and added the "professionals involved should get involved in reviewing those schemes."

However, to date, he said the IMO and other medical unions "will not participate".