‘Devastating effect’ of medical card loss on transplant recipients

The Irish Kidney Association has told Health Minister James Reilly that the loss of the discretionary medical card is having a “devastating personal economic effect” on the country’s 3,000 transplanted people.

Speaking at an event to launch Organ Donor Awareness week, the association’s chief executive Mark Murphy also pointed out to the minister that the future of 1,800 dialysis patients also relies on hi-tech medications for which they use the medical card.

“I urge you, minister, to re-examine this cohort of patients, as I fear for these people if nothing is resolved,” he said. “I am also concerned very few transplanted people will ever return to employment due to the almost automatic loss of their medical cards in the future.”