Parents of sick children who have lost their discretionary medical cards received a boost over the weekend after both the National Association of General Practitioners (NAGP) and the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) spoke of the hardship their members have seen since cards were withdrawn.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny will be warned today that the deepening medical cards restriction crisis being defended by his Government is putting a boy’s “life at risk”.

The numbers with discretionary medical cards has fallen 10,400 since the start of the year, with the greatest share of withdrawals or refusals in the South.

Families of children with Down’s syndrome have expressed anger at the Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin, who questioned if they should be entitled to medical cards if they are “very wealthy”.

Around 50 parents of children with disabilities gathered in Cork City over the weekend to protest at the withdrawal of discretionary medical cards by the HSE.

The Taoiseach was accused of “paying lip service” to the case of an eight-year-old boy with Down’s syndrome, fighting for his medical card, who he has yet to make contact with a month after pledging to meet him.

The mother of a boy who is fighting to have his medical card reinstated said she would be delighted to meet the Taoiseach because she has questions she would like him to answer.

“We are told that medical cards are not being taken away, that there is no cull. But when you look at what is happening, to my son and to other children with Down’s syndrome, it is hard not to feel that they are being targeted as the most vulnerable.”

MORE men are contacting a national agency set up to help women deal with a crisis pregnancy.