Doctors: Costs have to cover other staff

Doctors are defending their prices this morning after one of the members of the Troika yesterday criticised the cost of GP services in Ireland.

The EU, IMF and ECB told a press briefing in Dublin that some professions such as GPs and solicitors are charging double the amount for their services, compared to other wealthy EU states.

But Ilona Duffy, a GP based in Monaghan, said the Troika are not comparing like with like and therefore their criticisms are "very unfair".

Ms Duffy said: "Anyone who is a GP in Ireland knows that it is not just a GP in the practice, there will be a GP nurse, there will be secretaries, receptionists.

"In Belgium we know that a majority of GPs actually work single-handedly, thay have no staff. They work answering their own phones in the middle of a consultation and they have no nurses. This means that what they do is a lot different to what we do, and for that reason alone we are not comparing like with like."