Having a permanent job in the public service in Ireland has now become a reason for vilification, delegates attending the annual meeting of the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) in Killarney were told today.
George McNeice, the organisation’s chief executive, said the IMO deplored the attitudes and actions of all those who, in the current economic climate, seek to blame public servants “for situations which frequently they themselves have created”.
“Public servants – whether they are nurses, doctors, Gardai or fire fighters – are being depicted as leeches on society.
“Their crime seems to be that they haven’t lost their jobs and are trying to deliver services in the face of financial and staffing cutbacks. Having a permanent job in the public service in Ireland has now become a reason for vilification and the words ‘public servant’ a term of abuse,” he said.
“With this continual barrage of criticism, people can easily forget the services which these public servants provide 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They can also forget how much they depend on these same nurses, doctors, Gardai, pharmacists and fire fighters when they are ill, under attack or in danger of life and limb,” he added.
“The IMO is tired of this denigration of public servants and of being told that if we bring the ethos of the private sector into the public sector it will somehow transform it for the better. We should respect what the public sector is about and we should respect the commitment and dedication of those who work in it,” he continued.
He went on to say that in the current economic climate there are likely to be further cuts to health services but he warned against any attempt by the State to try and use the private health system to shore up an under-funded public health system.
Furthermore he warned services cannot be removed from smaller hospitals without a better service being put in place for patients. “If services are just taken away, the effects for patients will be disastrous and it will inevitably lead to unnecessary disputes,” he said.
Meanwhile the IMO also today published a position paper on what should be the fundamental principles of any system of universal health insurance which might be introduced in the future. It states it is vital access to services is based on medical need only and not on an ability to pay and that entitlements and choices must be clearly defined.