Republican News · Thursday 9 May 2002

One health service for all

Sinn Féin last week called for the establishment of a high-powered, all party cabinet committee to bring forward a focused and integrated plan for the strategic transformation of the health system. This must include widespread public consultation.

Health has rightly become a central issue in this election campaign. Healthcare is the big casualty of the Fianna Fáil/PD Coalition and before that the Rainbow Coalition. The legacy of cutbacks and underfunding is that the health system in the 26 Counties is now bottom of the European health league. This is the reality in Celtic Tiger Ireland.

There are almost 28,000 people awaiting hospital treatment; we have the worst life expectancy in Europe and 15% of acute beds have closed due to staff shortages. Women in rural areas have to travel long distances for cancer services. This gross inequality is a scandal. In our two-tier system, the wealthy can buy the best care while the rest join growing waiting lists.

Instead of presenting a strategy for equality, all of the establishment parties plan to use the two-tier public/private system as the basis for the health services. This will only perpetuate the inequalities.

Inequality can only be eradicated by a long-term strategy that addresses healthcare in the round, tackling poverty, promoting healthy lifestyles and building a single-tier public health system.

The provision of a health care system free at the point of delivery should be a priority for the incoming government. This policy objective should be the starting point for a strategic transformation of the health system.

All citizens should have healthcare as a right from the cradle to the grave.

Sinn Féin is proposing a ten-year strategy to convert the private health insurance system into a single tier public system. In the short term the party is proposing increasing health funding to 8% of GDP and abolishing tax incentives for private medical care.

Opponents will say that we cannot afford such a service. But if we are serious about delivering on healthcare, then tax policy needs to be shaped to fund this requirement.