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The Irish Medical Times Blog: April 2007

Next Minister for Health?

The opinion poll in today's Irish Times is bad news for Bertie Ahern and suggests he won't be forming the next Government. So if there is a Fine Gael-Labour coalition in power who will be the next Minister for... Read more

Are we sure they're Catholics?

New figures from a human rights organisation in Mexico have revealed that about 1,500 of the 200,000 women who have illegal backstreet abortions there every year die from unhygienic and botched operations. This horrible fact was used by such... Read more

Greedy GPs?

Go on! Blame the GPs! I dare you! It has recently been intimated, in the nurses' and consultants' disputes, that both of these groups are looking for too much money. Hardly an original line of attack on the part... Read more

Not again...

The apparent murder/suicide in Wexford over the weekend which saw the deaths of a husband, wife and their two small daughters leaves so many questions unanswered. I don't mean questions as to why a man would apparently take the lives... Read more

Consultants fight back on Questions and Answers

Senior IHCA negotiator Michael O'Keefe provided one of the few coherent public arguments for the rejection of the new consultant contract when he appeared on RTE television's Questions and Answers tonight. O'Keefe is one of the most articulate spokesmen... Read more

Junior doctors won't work with "aggressive" HSE

The consultants haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in handling their media relations in the dispute over the new contract. The Irish Hospital Consultants Association are disputing the fact that one of their members ever used the phrase "mickey... Read more

When is an advocate not an advocate?

Over 450 consultants attended the Irish Hospital Consultant Association's (IHCA) EGM in Dublin, and judging by the steady applause behind closed doors, and the buoyant mood of members who filed out those doors, they believe what they are saying. The... Read more

Operation 'blame the nurses'

So industrial action by the Irish Nurses Organisation and the Psychiatric Nurses Association is affecting patients, is it? After three days of nurses stopping work, the HSE informed us that about 70 patients' procedures (operations to you and me)... Read more

I'll give you €60,000 for your womb

If you thought there was no answer to the question "How much would I get for my uterus?" you were wrong. The answer is: "How old are you, how many children have you had and were you planning on... Read more

Here's another fine mess you've gotten me into

The question that must be asked when reading the front page of today's Irish Independent, Ireland's largest selling daily newspaper, is: Will doctors never learn? This would then be quickly followed by: Will someone ever tell them to keep... Read more

'Some kids turn out to be scum'

There are many journalists ready to tell you what they think and what you should think. But journalism in its purest form should be a vehicle for informing the public in as honest a manner as possible, without spin.... Read more

The future looks ugly but doctors still fight the good fight

The final general motions session has just ended, and with it comes a rather subdued end to what had the potential to be the most important AGM in years. Perhaps it was the disastrous decision to separate doctors from... Read more

A thin line between love and hate

The second day of the IMO AGM may have been dominated by Mary Harney, but she certainly didn't seem to notice. To the Minister for Health, her session was probably just another filled time-slot -- albeit a slightly more... Read more

Everything is better in Sweden

The Minister for Health, Ms Mary Harney, got a stirring introduction from new IMO president Dr Paula Gilvarry. It went: "I would like to introduce the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, on this beautiful day in Killarney." Dr Gilvarry... Read more

A year of dashed hopes

The passing of the chain of office from consultant Dr Christine O'Malley to public health doc Dr Paula Gilvarry was the feature event of the first day of the IMO AGM. The news, according to the outgoing president, was... Read more

Another year, another AGM

The Irish Medical Organisation's 2007 AGM kicks off in Killarney this afternoon (in a new hotel, as the Hotel Europe, where I personally have been twice now, is being renovated, unfortunately. This could have meant a new county and... Read more