Madam, - The Minister for Health Mr Martin was last week criticised by the medical profession for the serious delay in implementation of the primary care strategy. He started his response by pointing out the many improvements that have occurred in primary care, such as the out-of-hours co-ops and the Heartwatch cardiac risk intervention program.
These are indeed very impressive and important developments and he is to be congratulated for bringing them to fruition.
However, he went on to state yet again, that this Government views the Health Department as a black hole into which they have poured endless amounts of money and he mentions the gross sum, which is close to €10 billion. This is a nonsense and it is the main reason why I firmly support the Irish Medical Organisation and their tactic of attack used during the press conference held by the Department of Health on July 14th.
There is simply no point in talking about gross spending on health. We need to compare our spending with other countries and to adjust this spending according to the population of each country. Such a measure is spending expressed as a percentage of GDP. Given our level of affluence I would hope that Irish people would like to be compared with other European countries and not with sub-Saharan Africa.
Therefore it is very apt that the UN Human Development Report published on July 15th clearly shows that our spending on health as a percentage of GDP is the lowest in Europe. And the response of our Government? Incredibly, our Minister for State at the Department of Foreign Affairs claims that it is wrong because it is based on old statistics.
I have heard that the latest figures will show that we have improved; I think we are now second-last in the spending league for health.
The UN report also shows that we have the second-highest level of poverty in the Western world.
Of course the man from Foreign Affairs doesn't believe that either, because our Government does not want to face up to the reality of the situation.
As the percentage of people with medical cards falls to 29 per cent, the lowest level ever in this country, our Government want to believe the myth that a rising tide lifts all boats.
This figure should in fact be 27 per cent, but for the number of people given a medical card because they had reached the age of 70, irrespective of income.
Any one who believes that the falling number of medical cards reflects our growing affluence and prosperity is so out of touch with reality that their sanity would have to be questioned.
I would earnestly request that such people read the UN report as a matter of urgency.
As a doctor working in an area of urban deprivation, I am faced with these issues every day.
Two, three, four or sometimes more people are seen by me each day and are not charged because they do not have a medical card and are clearly unable to afford either a visit to the doctor or a modest prescription in the pharmacy. Why are people denying that this problem exists?
Are we so ashamed of our level of poverty that we would prefer to ignore it? What is so wrong with accepting all of the figures given to us by the UN and seeking to seriously tackle the issues involved?
Sadly, our Minister for Health is of the opinion that good progress is being made while the medical card numbers continue to trickle downwards. - Yours, etc.,
Dr NIALL O'CLÉIRIGH, Stráid an Phiarsaigh, Báile átha Cliath.