Camillus Glynn (Fianna Fail)

I agree with Senator Henry that the dispensary scheme system often did nothing to compliment human dignity. Both she and the Minister will agree there is a growing difficulty for people to get on a general practitioner panel in certain urban and rural areas because of a shortage of GPs. We should let the message go out to the many good young men and women who may go into the medical field that there are GP openings, such as in Mullingar. For the first time in my 26 years of political life, I have been approached on this issue to examine what can be done. The former health boards stood in the breach and appointed persons to a panel but that did not address the core issue. There is a need for additional GPs in certain locations.