Opposition Senator Jeanne Atherden is not satisfied with Government's answers about the number of doctors accepting patients from the disbanded medical clinic.

In July 2007 Government shut the clinic which treated the poor at the hospital and said those patients could be treated by ordinary doctors.

Parliamentary questions about how many doctors were treating those clients, as well as others without health insurance, drew a response from Junior Health Minister Thaao Dill who said he was unaware of any GP refusing to treat those groups.

Sen. Dill said for the last 18 months former medical clinic patients had been monitored on their financial needs.

He added that Government made no distinction between former medical clinic clients and financial assistance clients.

All financial assistance clients receive payment for HIP or an equal payment toward other insurance they hold, said Sen. Dill.

He added: "The Government also pays for client's medication that cannot be obtained from the pharmacy at KEMH (at no cost) and for their medical supplies and equipment."

Sen. Atherden told The Royal Gazette she was not satisfied by the response.

She said: "We asked them about the number of practitioners accepting them and he says he is not aware of anyone who is not. That also means you don't know who is."

She said she didn't know if any of the former medical clinic clients had been lost in the system since the changeover.

"They should be tracking people to make sure what you hoped to achieve was actually achieved."

With the downturn more people would find themselves in tricky financial circumstances and health care was something people were often tempted to economise on, said Sen. Atherden.