One-in-10 'cannot afford visit to GP'

UP TO 10% of the population cannot afford to visit their GP because of Government failure to extend medical card cover, doctors have claimed.

Delegates at the Irish Medical Organisation's (IMO) annual general meeting heard at the weekend that poorer patients are foregoing treatment because they are unable to pay to access healthcare.

In a motion calling on the Government to fulfill its pre-election promise to give medical cards to an extra 200,000 people, Dr Philip Crowley said a significant number of low earners and the unwaged were having to take risks with their own health and with the health of their families.

Dr Liam Twomey said there was a section of society "who are just a couple of euro better off than those on medical cards and that whole cohort is falling through the cracks".

Dundalk GP Dr Michael Salter said two of his patients with chronic illness had their medical cards cancelled to the detriment of their health this year.

"One woman with chronic asthma decided to cut down on her medical treatment because her card was cancelled.

"She got the flu and decided to sit it out at home. She ended up in A&E on a trolley, along with 23 other people. She finally got admitted to hospital and remained there for up to 10 days, just because she couldn't get a medical card. How is that saving the Government money?"

Another chronically ill patient who needed €400 worth of medication per month had her card cancelled after getting a part-time job and was switched to the drug payment scheme. This required her to pay €78 per month towards her drugs with the Government making up the deficit. "It is criminal and insane," Dr Salter said.

Dr Ciaran O'Donovan, a GP in Blackpool in Cork city, said he had been forced into "compassionate pricing" reducing GP fees, rather than not treat patients.

In his speech as incoming president of the IMO Dr James Reilly said the number of medical card holders had dropped by 67,000 in the past few years, due to a deliberate cull by the health boards.

"This is at a time when the income threshold for a medical card represents half the minimum wage," he said.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health said the medical card scheme cannot be extended due to economic reasons.

Doctors also criticised the move to extend the scheme to the over-70s on a non-means tested basis, claiming many of the beneficiaries were far better off than thousands who were excluded.