The chairman of the group charged with overseeing implementation of the State's primary healthcare strategy, Prof Ivan Perry, resigned yesterday in protest at the delay in resolving the public health doctors' dispute, writes Eithne Donnellan, Health Correspondent.
While talks have begun at the Labour Relations Commission in an attempt to break the deadlock in the eight-week dispute, Prof Perry said he was withdrawing from the steering group "as a gesture of support" for his striking colleagues.
"I feel very strongly that the strike is damaging for public health medicine in Ireland," he said. His resignation was conveyed by letter to the Minister for Health, Mr Martin.
Last month Prof Perry, who is professor of epidemiology and public health at University College Cork, told The Irish Times he was concerned that the length of the dispute "was a symptom of the extent to which our health system undervalues prevention".
In a separate development yesterday three children at two schools in the Blackrock area of Dublin were being monitored for measles. One case was confirmed. A GP in the area, Dr Tiernan Murray, expressed concern that he had tried to notify the chief executive of East Coast Area Health Board of the infections, but his call was not returned. He was concerned the infections could spread to others over the weekend if the health board took no action. Public health doctors, who are on strike over pay and working conditions, would normally trace contacts of infected children and advise their parents to vaccinate.