Bernard Allen
Ceist:173 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children if he will make a statement on recent comments made by general practitioners that hospital consultant appointments are tied up in red tape and the process of appointments is encumbered by tedious bureaucracy which has a cost of extraordinary protracted process which inconveniences the candidates, successful and unsuccessful, and more importantly the patients of the hospital which may urgently need an additional consultant. [16433/00]
