Peter MartinNov 17th, 2007 - 20:42:39

Irish Hospital Consultants have threatened to boycott any new consultants recruited by Health Minister Marney Harney and the HSE, while claiming to agree that the problems of the Irish Health system can be solved only by these new recruits and a greater number of consultants generally! So how can the likes of Prof. Crown justify this clear contradiction in his position.In my opinion,either you agree that new consultants are necessary or you don't. His position is hypocritical in the extreme.The Irish system is based on a patient's ability to pay twice. Firstly, you are taxed on your income and expenditure. Then you have to pay Private Medical insurance to avoid the deadly queues of seriouly ill patients awaiting referral to a small, inadequate number of consultants. Irish consultants are the most expensive in Europe, costing five times that charged by similar consultants in Norway for example. The World Health Organisation have many other similar figures for other European countries if you want to check this out.Clearly, Ireland is a dangerous place to live if you have a problem with your health and the statistics prove it. If Professor Crown reads this perhaps he could reply dealing with any facts which might support his case.At present, he appears to be something of a hypoctrite claiming on the one hand that the health service needs urgent reform while being a prominent member of an organisation which clearly wants to boycott such reform in the recruitment of extra staff. I rest my case.

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