An organisation representing about half the GPs in the State has called for Irish expenditure on healthcare to be brought into line with European standards.
The a.g.m. of the Association of General Practitioners (AGP) in Newbridge, Co Kildare at the weekend passed a number of motions on controversial medical issues, including one which stated that the medical profession "demeaned" itself by accepting the recently introduced free medical treatment for over-70s.
A motion that the Medical Council "put its house in order in particular with its recommendation re abortion" was changed at the last minute to remove the reference to abortion.
Speaking last night after the conference, AGP chairman Dr Michael Fay said he believed the conference had been extremely successful.
Health would become a "political football" over the coming months, he said.
"It is going to affect us hugely in terms of what we consider our rights."
The Government had already introduced free medical care for the over-70s, essentially a political decision. Other parties were proposing free medical treatment for children and for students, he said.
"The whole GMS system is changing and we are seeing the breakdown of the GMS as we know it," he said.
The principal objection from AGP members to free care for the over-70s was that those in the middle and lower income brackets who did not have medical cards were losing out to people who could afford to pay for their care.
On the motion calling for Irish expenditure on healthcare to be brought up to EU standards, Dr Fay said Irish spending was currently at 6 per cent of GNP, the lowest in Europe. While the amount of money was being increased, in relative terms it was actually dropping.
The health spending in Germany was 12 per cent of GNP, he said.
The a.g.m. also called for increased funding of rehabilitation services to bring them up to EU levels.
Care for those with serious injuries or mental handicap was among the best in the world while people were in hospital, but fell down once they were back in the community.
On the Medical Council, Dr Fay said the motion urging that it "put its house in order" had also been passed.
The whole structure of the Medical Council was "open to question" and needed to be tidied up. Its current complaint procedures operated on the basis that a doctor was "guilty until proven innocent".
GPs who had allegations made against them could be hugely damaged in the eyes of the community if a complaints procedure took two years to complete, even though they might well be innocent of any accusations made.
The wording of the motion was changed at the meeting to remove a reference to the Medical Council's recent decision to change its stance on abortion.