Relations between the main organisation representing doctors and the Minister for Health plummeted yesterday after the organisation openly confronted Mr Martin at a press conference in Government Buildings about his failure to extend medical card eligibility and to fund adequately a Government-backed strategy, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent
The heated exchanges took place at the publication of a progress report on the implementation of the Government's primary healthcare strategy. They began when Mr Martin said assertions by the president of the Irish Medical Organisation on spending to date on the strategy were "flawed".
The IMO president, Dr James Reilly, who had made his assertions in an article in The Irish Times Health Supplement on Tuesday, intervened in the press conference to openly disagree with the Minister. Dr Reilly was present along with other healthcare professionals as an invited guest at the publication of the progress report.
Dr Reilly had claimed in the article that €130 million a year had been committed by the Government to the implementation of the primary healthcare strategy over a 10-year period from 2001, but that only €12 million had been allocated the first year, €8 million the second year and no funding had been allocated for it this year.
Mr Martin said that although implementation of the strategy would cost €1 billion, it was flawed to suggest this could be divided evenly over the 10 years. He said €130 million could not be spent in each of the first few years while the plan was getting off the ground. But he conceded he had not been in a position to spend as much as he would have liked on the strategy.
Dr Reilly told the Minister he stood over his comments.
Mr Martin told him he was at a press conference and therefore should not interrupt. He accused the IMO of having an agenda and engaging in a "PR stunt".
Others, including the representative of the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, also attempted to ask questions. Then Dr Martin Daly, a GP in the west, tackled the Minister, asking him to agree that income limits for medical card eligibility were so low, they were "obscene".
Mr Martin said that while he agreed the income limits for medical cards were too low, his Department had been seeking to engage with the IMO on reviewing the medical card scheme for some time, but the union would not negotiate on issues such as fees. "I agree we need to increase income thresholds. But it's not always one-way traffic," Mr Martin said.
Criticising the interruptions, he said he had never, since he was appointed Minister, been accosted at a press conference by trade unions engaging in "positioning".
"If people want to tee things up and have certain popularity or certain sorry PR set-pieces, that's your privilege, but don't think I'm going to subscribe to that," he insisted.
Dr Reilly said afterwards he had a right to defend himself and said the Minister could extend medical card eligibility without any negotiations with the IMO.