Sir, – Margaret Flanagan (Letters, January 20th) asks a very good question: “Why don’t we look after our health the way we look after our cars?”
The answer is most likely the mandatory NCT, which has no equivalent for humans.
Many people leave their car in to the NCT to find out what really needs to be fixed. If they want to pass the test, they have to get it fixed.
If, as a less expensive precursor to full and free GP care for all, a free or at least reduced cost , medical examination and blood tests were allowed every two to three years for adults over the age of 18, and advice given on how to help rectify any problems found, it could go quite a way to improving the health of the nation.
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Obviously we can’t demand a person fix their faults, the way we do a car, but a straightforward reminder every two to three years of the state of their health and some unbiased advice, might be enough for a person, the responsible ones at least, to move to a healthier lifestyle.
First though, we need to find a way to retain enough GPs in this country, rather than merely acting as free training facilities for the UK, Australia, New Zealand and the US.
Some form of financial incentive to stay would help, like providing an equipped premises to work as a GP (therefore not requiring the new GPs to accrue even more debt on top of their medical student debt) or perhaps writing off a percentage of student medical debt for each year they stay in GP practice. – Yours, etc,
DAVID DORAN,
Bagenalstown,
Co Carlow.