Sir, – A huge obstacle to making any progress is the continuing private-public divide in the provision of our health services. The reality is that most health-service providers (doctors, nurses, therapists, technicians, etc) use private facilities for their own health needs and as a result, while we see the effects of poor public health provision up close, we don’t really feel it.
One of the reasons our educational system is of such generally high standard is that the providers, whether principals or teachers or lecturers, etc, in the main have been through and use the public educational system for themselves and their families.
As users and providers they do not and would not tolerate the mediocrity that we accept in our public health service.
If we all used the public health system in the same numbers that we all use the public education system, we would never tolerate the health delays and inadequacy that our citizens persistently endure.
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Whatever system we design and use, whether funded through taxation or insurance or a mixture of both, it must be the same for all citizens. – Yours, etc,
Dr PAUL ARMSTRONG,
Lifford,
Co Donegal.