Cllr Jim McGarry

jim mcgarry » news

Keep Private Hospitals off our Public Land, says Cllr McGarry

Issued : Monday 12 February, 2007

Recently a local Fianna Fail spokesperson claimed to have been assured by Health Minister Harney that a new private hospital facility would be developed on the grounds of Sligo General Hospital "under a co-location project". The contract was expected to be signed before the General Election. By co-location of course he meant that public land would be made available to developers and private investors on a public hospital site. The extra beds and vital facilities so urgently needed in our public hospitals would now be given over to a "for profit" group of investors and the space to expand the major public hospital in the North West would be considerably reduced.

The General Election apart, why is this government investing in private hospitals when we already have excess capacity in the private system? James Sheehan, founder of the Galway and Blackrock private clinics, has described the co-location policy as a "non-starter and indicated that his Galway Clinic has under-used bed capacity. Economist Jim Power has said that the plan could be "a market failure" and advised that direct government investment in public health would represent better value for money.

Cllr. McGarry added, most people would have no problem with private hospitals provided they were privately funded and privately run. But a big problem arises when a government uses taxpayers money to further enrich wealthy investors, increase inequity in health care and undermine the public sector. Most health policy researchers and economists recommend that investment goes directly to the public health services rather than use taxpayers' money to assist the private sector. In the recent past, the Australian Medical Association in Victoria, which had supported policies similar to the Harney Plan, changed its policy on Privatisation stating "the operation risks in terms of range and quality of services are of such magnitude that they can only be safely borne by the public sector".

The disadvantages of the Harney Plan outweigh any possible advantages such as a quick-fix type of announcement pretending to fill the gaps in our health services with a General Election just round the corner. But the greatest damage to our Health System - the institutionalization of two-tier hospital care which this policy would cement - would be a national tragedy. Other setbacks to the public system would be the draining of key resources such as nurses and doctors trained at taxpayers expense from the public to the private sector.

Cllr. McGarry continued, Labour calls for an equitable, quality-driven healthcare service for all our people. The government and Minister's Health Policy on hospitals will result in reduced quality and an increasingly inequitable hospital service. And the public will be handing over their land and their taxes to develop a health system based on P.D. political ideology.