IMO Conference: Medical card charge ‘dangers’

Some medical card patients, unable to afford prescription charges, are not taking vital medication and suffering strokes as a result, research will show.

Dr Ray Walley, a GP in north Dublin, said the study by researchers at Trinity College Dublin would suggest some patients were reducing their use of anti- coagulants (blood clotting agents) and ending up with stroke.

Dr Walley, who was addressing the Irish Medical Organisation’s (IMO) annual conference in Kilkenny yesterday, proposed a motion calling on the Minister for Health to reverse the policy of prescription charges in the next budget on the basis it was acting as “an economic disincentive” for patients to continue taking prescribed medication.