Sir, – Patrick Plunkett (July 24th), a man with more letters after his name than I, shows his true colours in a robust rebuttal of Vincent Browne (Opinion, July 18th).
Still, at €100 an hour (or quarter of a million a year in my book) he must feel he is worth it. A curious aspect of the medical professions is that unlike any other, their services are essentially a matter of life and death, which adds an “edge” absent in any other normal market transaction.
The position of “pay us what we demand or we’ll skip the county and leave you to die” as forewarned by Prof Plunkett, approaches the extortion end of the wage-negotiation spectrum. This leverage obviously does not extend throughout the public sector, witness an academic post at UCC that I briefly considered and discounted – a lectureship (PhD and extensive publication list required) in the salary range of €31,821-€51,270. I elected to stay put (abroad).
That said there is an alternative model when it comes to essential medical services. Cuba has forced “conscription” of health professionals into the public health service on fixed pay. Maybe we should confiscate the consultants’ passports? – Yours, etc,
A chara, – How very gracious of Patrick K Plunkett (July 23rd) to accept that one hundred euros per hour is a good rate of pay. If only. – Is mise,