Feargal Quinn (Independent)

The report issued today on health is very useful and seems to be generating discussion. I was impressed by the point Senator Henry made concerning metabolic diseases, and that this is an opportunity to identify diseases that new-born babies have, in order to save their lives. There was a report, yesterday, that in the city of Washington in the United States, it is estimated that one in 50 — or 2% of all its citizens — have the HIV virus. They have decided, starting from today, to offer a simple saliva test to everyone between the ages of 14 and 84, to enable them to see whether they have the HIV virus. That is a proactive step to ensure that people know ahead of time and are able to do something about it. It is rather like the metabolic diseases incidence that Senator Henry referred to.

We have attempted to do this with breast cancer and prostate cancer in order that people will know ahead of time and may do something about their condition. Money on its own does not solve the health problem. We must have a proactive approach to enable people to know in advance so that they can avoid discovering the bad news when it is far too late. We have not taken that step, so a debate on health will be very useful, regardless of whether it takes the form of a joint Oireachtas report or is debated in this House. I mentioned some years ago that I was impressed by the Chinese system under which the doctor gets paid until a person gets ill. When he or she gets ill, the doctor ceases to get any money, having been paid all the time when the patient was well. The doctor's job is to keep the patient well, not to make him or her better on becoming ill. If we had the same type of attitude there, then perhaps we should be taking steps to prevent rather than necessarily to cure.