Free GP for under-sixes‘by autumn’

The medical card fiasco will not impact on plans to introduce free GP care for all children under six, the Government pledged yesterday.

Earlier this week, the Government announced that an additional €13m would be provided to the HSE to meet the cost of reinstating discretionary medical cards.

Minister of state for health, Alex White, told members of the Oireachtas Select Committee on Health that money for the cards would not be coming out of the €37m provided in the budget for free GP care for under-sixes.