The mood among delegates at the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) annual conference will be one of "severe anger and frustration" at failures in the health system, the IMO president said today.
Dr Asam Ishtiaq was speaking as the event opened in Killarney, Co Kerry. Around 400 delegates representing 6,000 IMO members will take part.
The IMO president insisted doctors are not looking for more money but are pleading for the resources to treat patients in the healthcare system properly.
He said his members were angry because patients "are being denied access to timely hospital care" and are therefore being "failed by the system".
Members are also frustrated because calls made by the IMO for extra beds last year had "fallen on deaf ears".
The outgoing president said that the A&E crisis is just the "tip of the iceberg". "The cutbacks that were made in the 70s and 80s have to be replaced, unless we deal with that real issue no progress will be made.
"The figures speak for themselves, last year we had on average 250 patients around the country at any given time at A&E departments;this year it reached up to 500," said Dr Ishtiaq told RTÉ radio this morning.
As well as overcrowding in A&E departments, delegates are debating Government plans to regulate the industry and the rise in alcohol consumption.
Some 111 motions will be put forward at the conference, the theme of which is "Delivering Patient Care - What Doctors Do Best."
The delegates are expected to use the event to send a message to the Government that what they perceive as lack of reform in the health service is due to inadequate bed capacity and the failure to provide proper funding and resources.
"Although we are the representative body of doctors, the focus for us is on the patient and their care," said Dr Ishtiaq. "It is becoming more difficult to do that, not because of challenges we face but by the challenges in the system and the lack of resources."
He said that although spending in the health service has risen, it has suffered "almost 27 years of under-funding.
"In the late 70s and 80s we had bed cuts and shortages, now we have a higher rate of road accidents, patients suffering from more illnesses and people living linger. We have an A&E crisis.
"Doctors, like the neurologists who were in the media last week, are not looking for more money but are pleading for the facilities to treat people properly. It is ridiculous in the 21st century," Dr Ishtiaq said.
Delegates also look set to oppose plans by the Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to put a majority of lay people on the Medical Council, which regulates the medical profession.
Dr Ishtiaq said: "We have four lay members on the council, we are not against increasing that number, but making lay members the majority and doctors the minority will remove the self regulation of the profession. No other country in the world has that.
"The current system we have is not failing. Once an issue is brought to our attention we deal with it. We have handed out some serious disciplinaries."
The IMO represents over 6,000 professionals nationwide. More than 400 doctors, including hospital consultants, public health doctors, GPs and non consultant hospital doctors, will attend the conference in Killarney.
Additional reporting: PA