Madam, – As a general practitioner I welcome the news that Boots Pharmacy is now dispensing emergency contraception without prescription (Home News, January 11th). Unfortunately, the response from spokespersons for the Irish Medical Organisation and Irish College of General Practitioners has been predictably hostile. The supposed motivation for this stance is naturally described as “patient safety” rather than the financial interests of doctors.
This analysis would be somewhat more credible had the IMO not chosen to remain publicly silent at a time when 569 patients lay on trolleys across this country on January 5th. This situation represented a far greater threat to “patient safety” than increased availability of the morning-after pill.
I can only conclude that private pharmacy chains are far less dangerous targets for medical outrage than powerful government institutions such as the HSE. – Yours, etc,