GP-only medical card scheme ‘a flop’

THE GP-only medical card scheme has been labelled a complete flop by the Labour Party following revelations that just under 33,000 of the promised 200,000 cards had been issued to the public.

Labour deputy leader and spokeswoman on health Liz McManus said the scheme was one of the greatest Government gimmicks.

Ms McManus pointed out that the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) had recently claimed that the bureaucratic nightmare created by the Health Service Executive (HSE) had deterred people from applying for the card.