Sir, - In reviewing New Zealand's National Health System (October 26th), Dr Muiris Houston says: "There is a mix of public and private healthcare, just as there is in the Republic. A network of private hospitals co-exists with a government-funded public-hospice system".
This is a somewhat disingenuous and therefore misleading statement. For example, the majority of our hospitals are referred to as voluntary public service hospitals, which receive most of their funding from the Irish Government, yet they are not owned or run by the State. They are therefore decidedly not public in the true sense of the word. Besides, a significant number of beds in these so-called public hospitals are used for private patients, as a matter of routine. So, whilst this overlapping of public and private can legitimately be described as a "mix of public and private", it certainly cannot be regarded as the genuine co-existence of public and private healthcare in the Republic of Ireland. - Yours, etc.,
Lesley Stuart, South Circular Road, Dublin 8.