Madam, - Now that the piranha of the media have feasted themselves on Irish hospital consultants may I put some objectivity on relative costs with the health service.
Based on data in your newspaper:
1. There are 1,731 Comhairle-approved medical consultants in Ireland.
2. We are reported to earn €150,000 a year each for our public contracts.
3. The total health expenditure this year was €9,307,000,000.
Therefore the consultant establishment in this country costs less than 2.8 per cent of the annual health expenditure.
What percentage does the bureaucracy cost?
I have an 11-session public contract for which I receive €114,718 a year. Under the terms of the much derided consultant contract my annual salary is reduced by 20 per cent because I work in the old Eastern Health Board Area and therefore it is assumed I will have a more lucrative private practice. My colleagues outside this area receive the full salary.
For being on call one 24-hour day in three I receive an allowance of approximately €5,301 per annum. I do not earn €150,000 for my public contract. I wonder how many economists are on call. - Yours, etc,
FRANK McMANUS, FRCSI, Orthopaedic Surgeon, Eccles Street,
Dublin 7.
Madam, - Having spent two days and two nights on a trolley in Beaumont Hospital A&E Department last weekend, I would like to invite Mr Martin and Mr McCreevy to spend a night in A&E and see at first hand the trauma and distress their cutbacks have caused to patients and staff alike.
The dedication and care given by the doctors and nurses is absolutely fantastic under the most appalling conditions.
Trolleys are crammed into every available space with double rows in the centre of the floor and no space between them. Some patients cannot even get a pillow - there are not enough.
The system is at breaking point and Bertie is ordering his new private jets - Yours, etc.,
CHARMIAN RUDD, Strand Road, Sutton, Dublin 13.