asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he is aware that the people of Tullaroan dispensary district, County Kilkenny, suffer considerable inconvenience when sudden illness or an accident occurs in a family, as there is no medical officer resident in the area, and if he will cause steps to be taken as soon as possible to have the matter remedied.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Tullaroan Dispensary District.
No representations have been made by the local authority in the matter. If it is necessary to have the dispensary medical officer residing in the district it will be essential to provide a new residence for him as the house occupied by the previous medical officer is now used by the county medical officer of health.
If and when representations are made by the local authority the Minister will give the matter his consideration.
Arising out of the Parliamentary Secretary's reply, is there not a statutory obligation on the medical officer to reside within his dispensary district?
There is no statutory obligation.
I understood there was.
Must a dispensary doctor not reside in his dispensary district?
The Minister has discretion in certain circumstances to allow a dispensary doctor to reside outside his dispensary district.
Where accommodation is not available.
Accommodation is not available in this particular instance until a new residence is provided.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the Minister has required the local authority compulsorily to acquire land to provide a residence in order that the statutory requirements might be complied with? I understand that there has to be equal treatment for every district and that upheavals follow any apparent discrepancy between the regulations for one district and another. I would be interested to know from the Parliamentary Secretary whether the Department are going to apply these regulations uniformly to every district or whether a differentiation is going to be made between one district and another?
If the Minister is satisfied that hardship is being inflicted on the sick poor of any dispensary district by the medical officer being allowed to reside outside the district, he will certainly insist on a residence being provided in the district. If a dispensary doctor resides outside his district there must be special reasons for his doing so. Otherwise the universal rule is that the dispensary doctor must reside in his district, but in certain exceptional circumstances, if a residence cannot be provided or if the district is a small one, and if the doctor is living in a convenient centre, he may be allowed to reside outside the district. No representations have been made in this particular instance that hardship is being inflicted on the poor or that any inconvenience is being caused by the doctor being allowed to reside outside the district.
Is the Parliamentary Secretary aware that the doctor is living seven or eight miles away from the district? Is that not a hardship on the sick poor?
I would suggest to the Deputy that he should take the matter up with the board of health in the first instance.
At the time the doctor was appointed, was it not one of the conditions of his appointment that he should live in the district?
That is a separate question.