asked the Minister for Health what remedy is open to a person whom several doctors have refused to accept on their lists of persons entitled to free medical treatment where the lists of all available doctors are full.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Medical Treatment Applicants.
7.
Where an eligible person has unsuccessfully applied to a number of doctors for inclusion on their lists, he should inform the health board concerned. In such circumstances the board have power to assign the person to a particular doctor. In the unlikely event of each available doctor having the normal limit of 2,000 persons on his list, there is provision for the health board to decide not to apply this limit in a particular case.
Would the Minister agree that few, if any, of the doctors have the full complement of patients on their lists?
I know that very few have.
Has a doctor the right to refuse for any reason other than that his list is full? Must he take a patient unless his list is full?
He has certain rights. I will have to go through them before giving this information in detail to the Deputy. If the Deputy would ask a question I would be certain of being able to reply to it correctly.