Madam, - When the dust has settled on the events of the past few days, the problems will remain - a health service in near- chaos and 250,000 people who cannot afford basic medical care as they have no medical card.
Some have disingenuously suggested that the inclusion of these most hard-pressed individuals and families, who earn just over half the minimum wage, would necessitate negotiation with the IMO.
This is not so unless the percentage of the population covered by the scheme exceeds 40 per cent - an unlikely event! - or there is an attempt to bring selected groups into the scheme, which would serve only to exacerbate the current inequity in the system.
It has also been suggested that this means-tested group would represent a further "gravy train" for GPs. The facts do not bear this out.
This particular group attracts some of the lowest capitation fees in the GMS, i.e. for persons up to the age of 44 years the scheme pays as low as €37.65 per person to €75 per person to provide care for an entire year regardless of how many times they present for treatment.
The above will, in effect, represent an additional financial burden for many practices but social justice demands that their needs be met.
The IMO will continue to defend the rights of doctors to act as advocates for their patients, especially those in the less well off sections of our communities.
No doubt in the future we will seek, as a trade union should, to have our members properly resourced to give the care the people deserve. In the meantime, theirs is the need that is most pressing and cries out to be met. - Yours, etc.
Dr JAMES REILLY, President, Irish Medical Organisation Fitzwilliam Place, Dublin 2.