Fine Gael Senator PJ Murphy believes the Irish Medical Council need to immediately clear up whether it is appropriate for doctors to issue sick certs without speaking directly to the patients involved.
He said the revelation that sick certs are being issued from websites for a small fee without any patient consultation is worrying: “If someone is ill, they are fully entitled to be absent from work and have a supporting certification to show this. That is proper and fair.
“However, the current system operated by some websites, which say their doctors are Irish registered and are providing sick certs without talking to people who apply, is wide open to abuse.”
The Fine Gael Senator was speaking after his party colleague, Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, responded to the issue in the Dáil, which said that the Irish Medical Council is there to protect the public and ensure doctors operate to a very high standard.
Senator Murphy had previously raised the matter with the Health Minister: “As a regulatory body, the Irish Medical Council is dedicated to guiding doctors in maintaining high standards of professional conduct.
“A publican must ask for ID if he wants to verify someone’s legal age, but a doctor can provide a sick cert without knowing who has applied? How can this system be allowed to operate?”
