The Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) is due to debate a number of measures that deal with diabetes, chronic illness and lay membership of the medical council at its annual conference in Killarney today.
If the diabetes motion is carried, the IMO will call on the Health Service Executive (HSE) to appoint a consultant endocrinologist in every acute hospital in the State.
Another motion is asking the HSE to put in place service co-ordinators for people with chronic illness and their carers.
The organisation is also expected oppose introducing a majority of lay membership on to the medical council. According to the motion before the AGM, such as move would abolish self-regulation and "deprofessionalises the profession".
The IMO consultant committee has put two motions forward for debate on medical training, asking that the Department of Education adequately resource medical school places, and that it ensure that entry into medical school is not limited by ability to pay or country of origin.
Yesterday, the IMO called on the Government to increases taxes on alcohol and tobacco, with the exception of low-alcohol beers. It is also seeking to ban sponsorship of concerts by alcohol companies where under-18s might attend, and it backed the introduction of random breath testing.
The call was rejected by the drinks industry, with the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland claiming the alcohol industry in Ireland was "already the most heavily taxed in Europe", and that increasing taxes would do nothing to restrict alcohol abuse by a small minority.