Kevin has little faith in health service

HE earns 314 a month working at the Centre for the Unemployed. His mortgage is 130.

He has two children living at home, one on the dole. He is a chronic diabetic. Without a medical card, he would have to do without medication. In that respect, 52-year-old Kevin Clarke, from 12 Farranferris Crescent, Farranree, Cork city, is lucky. He has a medical card. What he does not have is private health insurance and must join the long queues of the public patient. He wants the Government to invest more in eliminating waiting lists in next week’s Budget.

When Kevin first went to the doctor feeling dehydrated and fatigued after returning from a holiday in Spain in August 1996, he was not immediately diagnosed as a diabetic. Because he had stomach pain, he was treated for stomach problems. The tiredness and constant thirst persisted. Kevin’s doctor decided to refer him to a specialist. It was a year before he got to see a consultant. He was diagnosed as diabetic and will be insulin-dependent for the rest of his life.