Family clinic cancels services for card holders

ONE of the country’s busiest family planning clinics has been forced to cancel services for medical card holders for the rest of the year because of a lack of funding.

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) yesterday announced the suspension of its services for all medical card holders at its main clinic in Cathal Brugha Street, Dublin. The association blamed the cutbacks on a lack of funding available from the Northern Area Health Board (NAHB).

It is understood that the IFPA used up its annual grant from the NAHB by mid-September due to an upsurge in the number of medical card holders using its services. "Already this year, we have provided almost 4,000 appointments to medical card clients from our city centre clinic," said IFPA chief executive Catherine Heaney.