Jab at Harney Pledge

HEALTH minister Mary Harney went public yesterday morning to defend the health service.

But even as she promised improvements it emerged that the HSE intends to slash flu jabs for the over-50s and medical cards for over-70s in order to cut costs.

Speaking of the cancer scandal, she told RTE Radio’s Marianne Finucane show: “We had, until recently, 30 hospitals doing breast surgery. If you asked me I’d want to be in one of the eight centres of excellence.”

She defended the haste of her health board reform programme, and in a veiled attack on hospital consultants, said: “For the first time in Ireland, vested interests aren’t going to dictate the running of the health service.”

She also said people would drop private health insurance once they had confidence in the public system.

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