State set to write off part of €9m wrongly paid to GPs

THE State is preparing to write off a substantial portion of the €9 million owed to it by GPs, but it remains to be seen if they will repay the reduced amount.

Almost 2,000 doctors were wrongly paid €9m for treating “ghost” medical card holders - people who had either died or moved to another health board area.

The doctors’ representative body, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO), has resisted State attempts to recoup the overpayments, saying its members were underpaid for years for treating other medical card patients.