Last-ditch talks aimed at reaching agreement between hospital consultants and the Department of Health on a new scheme for insuring their practice will take place this afternoon.
The talks with the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, have been hastily convened at the request of the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA), which is worried there are still "flaws" in the new system, due to be imposed on Sunday.
The meeting will focus on the issue of historic liabilities and the fact that the new insurance scheme, called enterprise liability, does not cover "Good Samaritan" acts such as coming to the aid of a victim of a traffic accident.
IHCA secretary general Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick said these were major "flaws".
"Under the State indemnity scheme a consultant who comes to the aid of a road accident victim or somebody who is attacked on the side of the street will have to have his own insurance to protect himself against possible legal action. Extraordinary though it may seem, there have been instances where victims treated on a 'Good Samaritan' basis have subsequently sued the doctor involved," he said.
"We are supposed to have a patient-centred health service. The appalling omission of 'Good Samaritan' acts from the State indemnity scheme is just one more example of the enormous gulf that exists between the aspirations of a patient-centred service and the reality on the ground.
"Depending on the consultant's speciality, the Department expects him to pay in excess of €1,000 for insurance cover to provide free medical aid in an emergency," he added.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said it would consider the IHCA's concerns in relation to these acts. She said this was a subject which could have been discussed had there not been a standoff between the sides for several days.
Meanwhile, the Irish Medical Organisation's director of industrial relations, Mr Fintan Hourihan, met Mr Martin last evening as part of an ICTU delegation to debate health service reform.
He raised with the Minister his organisation's concerns about enterprise liability. He said consultants were extremely concerned about historic liabilities not being covered, as one of two companies insuring them at present, the Medical Defence Union, had said it may not be able to cover all historic liabilities. The Department has stressed it cannot pick up the cost of historic liabilities of another insurance company.
Industrial action has been threatened by the consultant bodies if enterprise liability is introduced without agreement.