Insurance scheme will hit hospitals, warn consultants

THE manager of the country's busiest private maternity hospital has warned that forcing private obstetricians out of practice due to unaffordable insurance would put an unbearable strain on public hospitals.

Harry Canning, general manager of the Bon Secours Hospital in Cork city, said public hospitals would not be able to cope with the extra patients.

"We deliver almost one-third of babies in this region and we have 20,000 in-patient admissions in a year. If our consultants are forced out of business because of insurance costs, where are the private patients going to go and at what cost to the taxpayer?