The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has called on doctors not to allow patients to suffer in the dispute over the introduction of doctor-only medical cards this month.
In her address to the annual conference of the Irish Medical Organisation in Killarney, the Minister said four times more people would gain access to GP care under the scheme.
She said legislation had been introduced to make the entitlement clear so as to avoid another nursing home charges debacle.
Ms Harney also said that GPs' income under the medical card scheme had nearly doubled since 1998, despite the reported drop in the number of medical cards issued.
However, the IMO has reacted coolly to her remarks. Its GP leader, Dr Martin Daly, accused the Tánaiste of placing patients at the centre of the row and said the problem could be easily resolved if the Government met its commitment to provide full medical cards to around 200,000 people.
The IMO said its position remained that GPs would boycott the scheme until there were negotiations first.
