IHCA objects strongly to proposed new legislation

Hospital consultants have expressed concern that new legislation proposed by Minister for Health Mary Harney could place the Medical Council, the regulatory body for doctors in Ireland, under political control.

The Irish Hospital Consultants' Association also maintained yesterday that the planned measures could "silence" doctors and prevent them campaigning on behalf of their patients.

In its response to the Government's proposed Medical Practitioners Bill, the IHCA asserted that some of the planned provisions were "poorly thought-out".

It said the proposed legislation would grant "extraordinary powers" to ministers for health in the future. Ministers would be able, effectively, to appoint all the members of the Medical Council, to have the authority to direct it to follow a particular policy and to dismiss the body, where necessary.

IHCA president Mary McCaffrey said that if the proposals were enacted Ireland would be the only country in the EU where membership of a medical council was selected by the State and where the membership would be predominantly made up of lay people. She also said that Ireland would be the only country where a minister of the day would have the right to hire and fire the body.

She said the IHCA believed the legislation could interfere with the traditional doctor/patient relationship and curtail rights of advocacy on behalf of patients.

The IHCA is opposed to provisions which would allow professional conduct hearings against doctors to be held in public in some circumstances. It said that such cases should continue to be dealt with in camera. It also argued that disciplinary procedures and records relating to competence assurance should be exempt from the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act.

Dr David O'Keeffe, IHCA vice-president, said that members of the Medical Council had to be experts in the areas of education, training, registration and ethics. The medical members of the council found this to be onerous while the lay members found the learning curve to be extremely steep. If doctors and the public did not believe that the areas of registration, training and education were in expert hands, confidence in the council could be lost.

Prof Mary Leader, of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and Beaumont Hospital, expressed concern that medical education, including curriculums for medical schools, could come under political control.

Interested parties have until tomorrow to make submissions to the Department of Health in relation to the new proposals.