In a sternly worded rebuke to the Irish Medical Organisation's offer of cover during the dispute which begins on Monday, the Health Service Employers Agency (HSEA) has described the organisation's response as "wholly inadequate".
Mr Brendan Mulligan, head of industrial relations at the HSEA, said the refusal by the IMO to meet management for a second time this week "raised serious ethical, professional and public safety issues and calls into question the seriousness with which the organisation views the impact on public health and safety of its proposed actions".
Earlier, Mr Fintan Hourihan, director of industrial relations at the IMO, advised Mr Mulligan that "emergency cover will be provided in circumstances where a real and immediate risk to human life is apparent".
The HSEA said further clarification of this statement was urgently required in order to assess the adequacy of its contingency plans for the dispute.
Referring to the current SARS outbreak, the employers agency said it required clarification as to whether ongoing public health advice to assist with a national response to the threat of the infectious disease would be available. It also requested assistance with contact tracing in cases of bacterial meningitis.
The chief executive of the IMO, Mr George McNiece, subsequently replied to the HSEA last night, advising it that "the matters you have raised will be brought to the attention of the national strike committee, which is to meet on Saturday, April 12th".
He rejected Mr Mulligan's assertion that the IMO had refused to meet the HSEA, in- dicating that the doctors' organisation had agreed to remain available for contact at a meeting with the Department of Health/ employers group held last Wednesday.
"The only unprecedented move in the history of this particular dispute has been the unique failure on the part of the HSEA and the Department of Health to seriously engage in trying to resolve the matter in dispute."
The Irish Patients Association called for a "more dynamic industrial relations framework within the health sector".
Its chairman, Mr Stephen McMahon, said the work of public health doctors must be properly valued.