Half the funding for the construction of primary care centres across the State, which the Government made a commitment to build three years ago, will have to come from the private sector, it has emerged. Eithne Donnellan and Martin Wall report.
The Department of Health yesterday confirmed that it had been approached by a number of private companies about becoming involved in the development of the units.
The Minister for Health, Mr Martin, told The Irish Times yesterday that he had sought the Department of Finance to introduce tax relief on the construction of primary care centres, but tax breaks for the development of nursing homes and private hospitals had taken precedence.
The primary care centres, proposed under the Government's Primary Care Strategy, 2001, are essentially to be one-stop-shops where patients can access the services of their GP, social worker, physiotherapist and other health professionals.
"We have looked at the various models that have arisen and I think there is potential for incentivising private sector funding for the construction of many of the multi-disciplinary centres," he said. The Irish Times revealed yesterday that large-scale State funding on primary care and mental health facilities would be deferred until 2007.
The Minister said, however, that money could not be spent immediately in these areas as the facilities had to be designed.
Fine Gael, the Labour Party and Sinn Féin yesterday criticised the decision by the Department of Health and the Department of Finance to concentrate funding for the Government's new five-year €2.5 billion capital programme on the acute hospital sector over the next two years.