'Our right to health must be delivered'

SECOND OPINION:Minister for Health has to reassure public on what is a fundamental basic human right

REPORTED DELAYS in accessing medical cards. Increases in private health insurance costs. Changes to HSE management structures. One could be forgiven for imagining we had not moved on a year in the healthcare debate. A year which saw a new Government take office, amid landmark commitments around developing a single-tier health service, and access to care based on need, not income.

But changes are afoot. Over Christmas Minister for Health James Reilly announced the HSE board/chief executive structure was to be replaced with seven directorates, each responsible for one of seven strands. The new directorates were described as interim changes on the road to Reilly’s master plan of universal health insurance.

Little information was provided with this announcement. Many noted the lack of information as adding further uncertainty to the future of our healthcare structures.

Only when the legislation is put in place to give effect to these changes in the HSE will the Minister outline the timeline for the reform towards universal health insurance.

In addition, Reilly announced an increase in the levy charged by Government to health insurers. The response of the insurers to this rise has been varied. Some will absorb the cost while others have to pass the charge on to customers. Yet a lack of concrete information has made it hard for many people to keep up with the surrounding debate.

We have spent the past month discussing what the future of our healthcare structures look like, and whether people can afford healthcare under the current system. The drip feed of information from the Minister to his national constituency is damaging the long-term programme of work, confidence in the Government’s ability to deliver it, and people’s belief they will be able to get the healthcare they need when they are sick.

In all of the changes, we must not lose sight of the fundamental question. Can individuals in Ireland access the healthcare services they require, when they need them?

Everyone in Ireland has the right to health. Our government committed to uphold that right in 1989 when they adopted the International Covenant of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on our behalf. This requires that everyone living in Ireland can access healthcare, without discrimination. In any reform of healthcare, the guiding light must be what will truly deliver access to care based on need, not income, as the Government promised in spring 2011.

We are seeking to ensure Reilly’s healthcare reform explicitly writes into law that everyone should have equal access to healthcare no matter who they are or what they can afford.

Amnesty International polling found that 85 per cent believe that health is a human right, while 88 per cent believe that equal access to healthcare should be guaranteed in Irish law. More than 16,000 people, to date, have signed a petition supporting our call for equal access to healthcare.

Ultimately health and healthcare is among the most fundamental of our rights. It is about ensuring that all people in Ireland have access to the treatment they need to prevent them from being sick, or to care for them when they are sick.

The Dáil has returned to face the crisis in our health service and in our economy. The focus on our economy often seems all-consuming. Embracing this crisis to create opportunity has been the mantra of government and the business community for the past four years. If our health crisis is to be an opportunity, we need leadership on how to mend our broken systems. This requires clarity from Government in the details of their promises, and confidence by Government to tell people when and how these promises will be delivered.

Dr Fergus O’Ferrall said: “Times of crisis are times of passion and leadership to deliver major reform. Nye Bevan showed this in introducing the NHS when Britain was broke after the second World War in 1948. We too need passion and leadership to create a health system which will provide the best healthcare equally to all citizens.”

Ireland needs its leaders to lead, and to lead with passion. Our right to health must be delivered.

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Colm O’Gorman is executive director, Amnesty International Ireland.

*Amnesty International Ireland hosted a seminar, Guaranteeing the Universal in Universal Healthcare, last Thursday (January 19th) at which Dr Fergus O'Ferrall spoke.