Browne should be lauded as Ireland’s greatest health minister
■ I am writing in recognition of the excellent article written by Colette Browne (‘Harris lacks the political will to cure our relentless health crises’, Irish Independent, January 9) revering the crusading work of Dr Noël Browne on behalf of the poor and the deplorables in Irish society in the 40s and 50s. Of course, the crusading work of Browne did not fit well with the vested interest of the medical profession, hence the letter from Dr Sean O’Duibhir in Saturday’s Irish Independent.
Noël Browne was filled with a genuine concern and compassion for the underprivileged, and his dream was creating a socially just Ireland. His aim was to tackle the unacceptable levels of child mortality by bringing in free ante- and post-natal care for mothers, and extending free health treatment for children under 16 without a means test.
To confront the scourge of TB in Ireland, Browne was a young minister in a hurry. His leadership, dynamism and innovation built a network of sanatoria, using the hospital sweepstakes funding. In treating TB he took advantage of recent developments of the then-new drugs BCG and Streptomycin. Yes, James Ryan and Dr James Deeny, author of ‘To Cure and to Care’, did the spadework, but Browne put it into effect.
Remember the words of Winston Churchill: “You only have enemies if, some time in your life, you stood up for something”, and that aptly describes Browne. He made powerful enemies in the Church and medical profession, whose vested interests came under threat. They feared socialised medicine, as do the American health insurance companies, whose cost per capita is more than twice the cost of the NHS.
Colette Browne got it right. We need an uncompromising health minister of the calibre of Browne. We spend €15bn of taxpayers’ money on it, and the NHS can do it for €500-per-capita less than us. In the pantheon of Irish statesmen, Browne, Ireland’s greatest health minister, joins Donogh O’Malley and Seán Lemass. He did the poor, the deplorables, the Irish State some service that should be recognised and acknowledged, not denigrated. John Larkin Newtownmountkennedy, Co Wicklow