Parents to protest over medical cards when Cabinet resumes

Parents of seriously ill children still in limbo over the discretionary medical cards crisis are set to protest outside Leinster House during the first Cabinet meeting of the new Dáil term this Wednesday.

The Our Children’s Health group — which has played a key role in forcing through likely reforms in the system — confirmed it is to hold the “show of support” event from 1pm-2pm in a bid to ensure the issue stays on the political agenda.

Since mid-May — weeks before the local elections which saw the Government parties badly damaged by the high-profile problem — the group has protested twice a week outside Leinster House to keep pressure on officials to resolve ongoing medical card concerns.

However, after 100 days of protesting and recent comments from Health Minister Leo Varadkar calling into question whether changes will be fully implemented, the campaign’s organisers said there is a pressing need to have a wide-scale show of support to guarantee promised reforms remain on the agenda as next month’s Budget 2015 nears.

“We hope to send a message to Government as they start their new term. Eligibility for medical services on the basis of serious medical need must be a key priority,” said an Our Children’s Health spokesman.

“Parents still have no certainty. Right now some children with very serious conditions are still without medical cards, they do not qualify under the current system.

“Those that have them [discretionary medical cards] live in dread of the next renewal. This situation cannot continue.

“We will continue to do all we can to support those children with serious conditions that are still waiting for a medical card of indeed have been refused.

“This campaign is for all our children and will continue until such time as the State responds appropriately when a child is faced with a serious medical condition,” he said, adding that any affected parent unable to attend can “send photos of their children so they can be represented on the day”.

Since the discretionary medical cards cutbacks crisis was first revealed by the Irish Examiner in July 2013, Government has moved from insisting the problem did not exist to accepting a major overhaul of the current system is needed to ensure supports are given to all people who need it.

In late May, then junior health minister Alex White announced that a controversial review of discretionary medical cards held by patients would be immediately halted.

A Government-backed expert review panel of the entire medical card system was then put in place with a view to introducing a new service based on medical, not financial, need.

This expert panel is due to report on the matter in the second half of September. However, patient groups has raised concerns over recent comments from Health Minister Leo Varadkar that a medical needs-based system may not be feasible.