Funding for GMC should come from taxpayers

Editor—“We want to put an end to the idea that the GMC [General Medical Council] is a representative body for doctors. It is not. Its primary role must be to protect patients,” said the health secretary, John Reid.¹

Surely, if this is the duty of the GMC, and it does not purport to represent doctors, its costs should not be borne by the doctors but by the taxpayer. A licensing and registration body may be legitimately funded by doctors, but it is unreasonable to expect doctors to fund the extremely high costs of protecting patients from possible criminal elements.

An organisation whose primary function is to protect patients and citizens should be funded in the same way as the police and report its findings to the courts and the licensing body.