Doctor-only cards to be available within weeks

DOCTOR-only medical cards, which were announced 10 months ago, should be available for use within weeks after the Department of Health and doctors sorted out their outstanding problems with the scheme yesterday.

It was also agreed that a full renegotiation of the overall medical card contract will begin next week.

The introduction of the 200,000 doctor-only cards, which allow free GP visits but not free medication, has been beset with problems from the outset.