Who ever wins the forthcoming General Election faces an ‘unprecedented crisis' in public health services, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has insisted.

According to the IMO, which represents doctors in Ireland, public health services need a ‘significant, immediate and sustained' investment as a matter of urgency. It said that the health crisis faced by the next Government is comparable to the economic crisis faced by the current Government when it took office five years ago.

"Our familiarity with the problems in our health services have blinded us to how serious the issues have become. Years of cutbacks in essential services, a manpower crisis fuelled by record emigration of Irish trained doctors and a 10-year long national emergency in our Emergency Departments (EDs) has left the public health services perilously close to collapse and in urgent need of attention," commented IMO president, Dr Ray Walley.

He said that is clear that services are being restricted and patients are suffering unnecessarily.

"This is the biggest challenge facing Ireland now and in the years ahead. Five years ago we moved heaven and earth to rescue failed Irish banks. Surely we can now do the same to rescue the Irish health service on which all of us ultimately depend," Dr Walley said.

The IMO is calling on politicians to make health a priority and abstain from ‘irrational politically motivated reforms'. They should instead focus on stabilising and supporting ‘what is a very fragile public health service'.

"Successive governments have invested scarce resources in pursuing politically motivated cul-de-sacs such as free GP care and universal health insurance even while the basic infrastructure of our health service was collapsing around their ears.

"What we need now is an immediate investment programme, followed by a period of sustained funding so that we can repair the damage that has been done to our health services in recent years and plan for the future health challenges we face so that we can deliver a health service that works," Dr Walley added.