A chara, - According to the Department of Health, the taxpayer continues to subsidise 40 per cent of the running cost of private beds in public hospitals. In addition, we pay for 100 per cent of the capital costs of public hospitals.
For every private patient seen by a consultant, he or she will receive a substantial fee. No other member of the hospital team will receive a portion of this fee for any work they have done to assist, nor will the hospital receive any payment for the rent of facilities.
Few consultants earn less than €250,000 a year. They limit the numbers in the profession, ensuring an oligopoly of service.
It is time that consultants were treated like any other users of a service. The HSE should charge them rent and hiring charges when they use any State-owned equipment in their own time and they should be billed for the use of any other staff time for private work. Could any of the eminent consultants regularly quoted in the media cite any other profession where the State so heavily subsidises their private work?
In addition, let's lift the restriction on numbers. The patient and taxpayer need to get a fair deal. - Is mise,
MALCOLM BYRNE, The Chase, Gorey, Co Wexford.