I refer to the letter with the above title by Dr Mark Bugeja (TMIS, 21 June), who resides and presumably works in upmarket Pembroke. For obvious reasons, there are fewer GPs in underprivileged areas such as the Grand Harbour area where I live and work. These areas have the most residents with pink /Schedule V forms. Hence, rather than contract, public primary health should introduce corrective measures.

As reported by your parliamentary correspondent on 13 May, I insisted: “Only 250 people graduated as doctors between 2003 and 2007, blaming in particular the pre-requisite for aspiring doctors to have very high A Level grades. ‘We don’t need rocket scientists, we need doctors’.” I was pleased to note that following my insistence (none of my sons, nephews or nieces are interested), Social Policy Minister John Dalli has suggested that the entry requirement grades for the medical course be reduced from B to C in order to recruit more students to help meet the shortage of doctors. I can still recall the Prime Minister frowning at me when a member of a local family doctor association rebutted my suggestion in a pre-general election encounter last year. Common sense is prevailing after all it seems.

Dr Jean-Pierre Farrugia

BLATA L-BAJDA