Madam, - We are a group of general practitioners who are very concerned about current Government policy and its effect on low earners. We wish to highlight a number of worrying developments that are adversely affecting our patients' health and access to health care.
As highlighted in Maev-Ann Wren's recent article, there has been a radical reduction in the number of patients receiving a medical card on a means-tested basis. The result for us has been a large increase in the number of people just above the income threshold, who are genuinely suffering.
Already we are seeing patients with asthma who cannot afford to pay for their medication. In children this can result in them remaining wheezy and finding exercise difficult as well as suffereing more severe asthma attacks. Patiens with depression find it difficult to pay for expensive antidepressants. Preventive medicine is a lofty notion now available only to the well-off - who are less likely to need it.
We now learn that in the Book of Estimates there will be yet again no increase in the income threshold for medical cards (despite the 200,000 extra medical cards promised in the election manifesto) and the amount a patient pays for medicine before receiving State support is to be increased again. This can only lead to more suffering for vulnerable groups.
Added to this are the proposed social welfare cutbacks announced. The proposal to make access to rent allowances even harder is going to make life very difficult for many families living together in crowded conditions. It will potentially lead to an increase in homelessness, which is already a major problem in Dublin.
The other proposed cut which is strikingly retrogressive is the abolition of emergency childcare provision. Let us be clear that this is a vital and well used service that provides care for children that may otherwise be at risk as their parents go through a period of particular stress or illness.
Finally, we have experienced at first hand the pride and self- esteem that the Community Employment and FÁS schemes have given to our patients. We have witnessed patients who have moved away from drug habits having had a second chance through these schemes. We have experienced young mothers being given the chance to continue their education and to gain essential skills to allow them participate fully in the workforce. We are dismayed at the proposed huge reduction in places on these schemes.
This ongoing assault on the most vulnerable in our society is an outrage. As doctors we have to deal with the end effect of these policies daily. We cannot stay silent any longer. We have formed a group of general practitioners called Doctors in Support of their Communities to highlight the damage of these policies. We will continue to do whatever we can to highlight the real effect that current Government policy is having on communities and to push for action to redress the dreadful health inequalities experienced by the communities we work in. - Yours etc.,
Dr DAVID GIBNEY,
Dr BRID HOLLYWOOD,
Dr MARY JENNINGS,
Dr ANN LYNOTT,
Dr TARA CONLON,
Dr NEASA MCDONAGH,
Ballymun Health Centre;
Dr AUSTIN O'CARROLL,
Dr PHILIP CROWLEY,
Mountjoy Health Centre;
Dr KIERAN HARKIN,
Inchicore Medical Centre.
Madam, - Once again I've heard a financial spokesperson on RTÉ radio quoting Sean Lemass's dictum about "a rising tide lifting all boats".
Has nobody pointed out that this doesn't happen when some boats are holed? - Yours, etc.,
KEITH NOLAN, Caldragh, Carrick-on-Shannon, Co Leitrim.