Vol. 435 No. 9
97 Miss Quill asked the Minister for Health if he will respond to recent criticism by the Irish Medical Organisation's Chief Executive when he said that he was not happy that his Department has dealt sufficiently with the deprived urban areas issue.
As part of the November 1992 agreement with the Irish Medical Organisation in relation to the provision of services under the general medical services scheme, the Government made available a General Practice Development Fund out of which I have made funding available to improve general practitioner delivered services in deprived areas. These service improvements provide for additional payments to doctors for improving the uptake of immunisations in respect of children of medical card holders and a pilot screening programme for children whose health status may be vulnerable. These programmes are being evaluated and I will consider further initiatives in this area in the light of their evaluation.
