Health Minister James Reilly is not happy with recent reports that consultants are earning hefty amount by treating VH1. According to reports, last year, a hospital consultant has earned €1m in fees by privately treating VH1 insured patients.

The statistics exposed that he was not the only consultant but there are other 200 consultants also who earn almost €200,000 by treating VH1 patients and also work with public hospitals and get between €173,000 and €184,000 as their salaries.

Reilly said, “I am not satisfied that any consultant should be paid €1m in a year itself”. He also told that such kind of wages is totally unacceptable to swallow among ordinary people expectations.

He has assured that the government would look in to the matter by reviewing the costs in the private health insurance market to get an idea where savings could be done and to devise the methods to reduce the payments given to the consultants. The fees paid by the VH1 patients cover the expenses of the modus operandi and also the doctor’s room, the staff expenditure and other expenses.

According to norms, Consultants are asked to limit their workload while practicing privately by 20 to 30% but there are consultants who are exceeding the limit to 50%.