Madam, - It is hardly credible that our Minister for Health and the HSE are proposing to establish a with-profit private hospital in Galway against the wishes of local people (Health Supplement, December 12th) who demand that Government should provide future hospital facilities in the existing public university hospital. It is equally disturbing that the Government is colocating eleven with-profit hospitals country-wide, a policy with serious cost and ethical implications, and one which would be out of step with the systems in Northern Ireland, Britain and our EU partners.
The opposition parties, which favour a one-tier health system, should vigorously oppose the Government's privatisation health policy now and should undertake to reverse these policies if elected to government next year.
If Ms Harney succeeds in her policy we will be faced with an iniquitous health system which will be virtually impossible to unscramble without paying out vast sums to the private investors.
I believe that, if Ms Harney's policy of privatisation were put to the Dáil with the whip removed, the Minister's plan would be rejected and the Galway opposition would be justified. - Yours, etc,
RISTEÁRD MULCAHY, Roebuck Road, Dublin 14.