Private health operators profit at public expense

THE story last week that the state is to resort to bringing out the begging bowl to meet a €110m shortfall for the long-promised National Children’s Hospital followed on from the previous day’s statement from Health Minister Mary Harney that the “public” health service will have to endure much deeper cuts next year.

All of this obviously begs the question why the minister is insisting on lavishing our taxes on the private health sector to the obvious detriment of public provision?

The National Treatment Purchase Fund is diverting up to €100m of taxpayers’ money away from the public system this year alone and, given the additional layer of administration and the need to fund the profit element attached to this convoluted system, it can hardly be regarded as “value for money”.

This is particularly the case when the public system now has no end of closed beds waiting for those same patients who are being shunted out of the public system, apparently to bolster private operators.

Then if we look at the extraordinarily generous tax breaks and other incentives still available that are gobbling up huge amounts of public money, it is no wonder that the “public system” will have to undergo deeper cuts next year.

Instead of doing as in Britain, where they ringfenced spending on the NHS during these hard times, it seems our Government has inexplicably decided to do the opposite and ringfence public money going to private operators while savagely cutting money for the public service.

In a time when the Dáil is fumbling about trying to put together a pertinent question to ask ministers, could someone ask Ms Harney to explain the rationale behind her decision to maintain the flow of taxpayers’ money to private operators while deeply cutting funding available to the public system.

A simple question which ought to have a very simple answer.

Jim O’Sullivan

Rathedmond

Sligo