The country's largest GP organisation has called on the Government to withdraw the draft contract it recently drew up for the provision of free GP care to all children under six.

The Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) says the controversial proposals presented recently to GP representatives should be abandoned, and the Government should immediately commence a proper partnership with GPs on delivering 'true and effective reform'.

The call came as Primary Care Minister Alex White promised further talks with GP organisations on the under sixes proposals.

The ICGP, which has around 2,500 members, said the draft contract as proposed is not deliverable within current available manpower, infrastructure and resources in general practice and its implementation could harm the future provision of GP care in Ireland.

It says without proper resourcing being provided, adding 240,000 patients to those currently entitled to free GP care 'could destabilise current service delivery', which the College says is already working at full capacity.

In a submission to Minister White, the College says the Government proposals will place an excessive burden on GP workloads. It says the contract places all the responsibility for service delivery on GPs while absolving the HSE of any such responsibility.

The College has also stressed that expanding free GP care to under sixes should not be funded by cuts to medical card numbers.

It also says the projected funding for the scheme (initially €37 million) is a 'gross underestimate' of what such a programme will really cost.

The College says the contract plan does not serve the interests of patients and is too heavily focused on bureaucracy and administrative box-ticking.

The ICGP says it has particular concerns over the implications of the contract proposals relating to performance monitoring, data reporting, patient choice of doctor under the scheme, practice premises, and additional services that GPs would be required to deliver without sufficient resources beig provided.

The GPs' union, the IMO, has also rejected the contract proposals, and has threatened court action against the Department of Health unless negotiations are initiated on an agreement for the under sixes scheme.

Meanwhile, Minister White stressed yesterday that the contract document was a draft paper, and he said he was inviting GP representative bodies for talks on the scope and content of the draft contract for under sixes, at which  GP bodies could make proposals as to how it could be improved.

The deadline for submissions on the draft contract was last Friday-almost 300 submissions were made on the document and Minister White said these were currently being examined by the Department of Health

"I have no doubt that there will be changes to the text following the consultation process," the Minister said.

Minister White added that he is contacting the IMO separately regarding a process of engagement with it in relation to the draft contract.