asked the Minister for Health the number of dispensary doctors in the country, and the estimated number of medical practitioners engaged in general practice in the country.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Dispensary and General Medical Practitioners.
12.
The number of district medical officers is 681.
As I explained on the 2nd December, 1959, in reply to a similar question from the Deputy, and also in a reply of the 16th July, 1958, to a question by Deputy Kyne, statistics are not available as to the number of doctors in private practice. The statistics available do not distinguish between doctors in general practice and others.
It may be of interest to the Deputy, however, that at the 1951 census, 2,921 persons described themselves as medical practitioners. This figure would, of course, include, in addition to doctors in general practice, doctors engaged whole-time in the public service, e.g., in the public health service and in hospitals, particularly mental hospitals, as well as doctors in private practice solely as consultants. It would be pointless at this stage to attempt to ascertain how many doctors were, at the time, engaged whole-time in the public service but that information is being obtained in relation to the date of the recent census and will be available by the time the results of that census are published.
In relation to the second part of the Question, which the Minister finds it impossible to answer, it is rather a pity that the Minister is not on speaking terms with the Irish Medical Association in which case he might get the information by telephone.
I do not think that if I were to talk to the Irish Medical Association for a year it would increase the number of doctors by one.
But the Minister might find out how many doctors there are.