The Department of Health has strenuously denied reports that the Government has agreed to provide up to €300 million to bail out a British company which insured Irish hospital consultants.
The company, the Medical Defence Union (MDU), has been saying it may not be able to meet the cost of claims made against consultant obstetricians even though the obstetricians paid it insurance premiums over the years.
The MDU says it did not take in enough in insurance premiums to meet the escalating cost of claims in cerebral palsy cases. It is also refusing to foot the bill for claims against Dr Michael Neary, the Drogheda obstetrician who was struck off the medical register last year after being found guilty of professional misconduct over the unnecessary removal of several patients' wombs.
Furthermore, it says it is now losing out on income from insurance premiums since the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, introduced a new State scheme for insuring consultants in February.
The introduction of the new scheme led to a campaign of industrial action for the first time ever by the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association, which said members could face financial ruin if they were not covered for medical negligence cases.
However, an escalation of their industrial action was postponed after the Department of Health agreed to enter talks with the MDU to hammer out some agreement which would see all consultants covered for events which occurred while they were MDU members.
The Department of Health claimed the cost of obstetrics claims which the MDU was refusing to meet could be in the region of €400 million. The MDU claimed it was less than half that amount.
Talks between both sides had been going on for weeks, when last Wednesday the MDU announced they had broken down.
Yesterday the Sunday Tribune reported that the Department had now urged the MDU to return to talks and had signalled to it, that if it returned, it would only have to meet the cost of claims already lodged against obstetricians for brain-damaged children. The cost of this would be in the region of €99 million and the State would then pick up the tab for claims yet to be made against obstetricians for the period they were covered by the MDU. This bill could come to €300 million.
A Department of Health spokeswoman insisted yesterday, however, that there was no agreement yet in principle or otherwise with the MDU.
An informed source said, however, that the Department accepts it will have to subsidise the MDU. "The only question is by how much," the source said.