asked the Minister for Health the total number of doctors who were in general practice in Ireland in 1967, 1968, and 1969; the number of newly qualified doctors who entered practice in 1967, 1968, and 1969 in (a) Ireland, and (b) Dublin city; and whether he thinks that these numbers will be sufficient to ensure efficiency of service at general practitioner level under the new Health Act.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Medical Practitioners.
2.
As there is no separate registration of doctors entering general practice, information in the detail requested by the Deputy is not available. Surveys carried out independently by my Department and by Professor Thomas Murphy and Dr. Nessa Joyce of University College, Dublin, indicated that in 1966 there were about 1,300 active general practitioners in the country, of whom approximately 400 were in the Dublin area. These numbers should be sufficient to ensure a reasonable availability of service for eligible persons when the existing dispensary system is replaced by the choice-of-doctor scheme.
Is the Minister aware that according to certain reports doctors are not entering into the field of general practice with the same frequency as some years ago and that general practice has not got the same enticement for them? The figures the Minister has quoted relate to five years from the time the data were available to the date of implementation of the new Health Act. Surely the Minister's Department have more accurate statistics and a breakdown of the doctors available to run the new health services?
One can make an approximate estimate. There might have been some 12 fewer doctors in 1969 than in 1966.
Would the Minister not agree that but for the fact that there are Asiatic and African doctors available at the present moment, there would not be sufficient doctors to carry on the existing health services?
Of course Asian and African doctors are to be found in British hospitals as well as in our hospitals. The question, however, relates to doctors in general practice, not to doctors in hospitals.