Thousands removed from medical card lists due to 'bureaucracy'

Thousands of vulnerable people are reportedly being systematically removed from the medical card scheme because of HSE bureaucracy.

Reports this morning say the measure is being taken when patients fail to return annual review forms on time.

Most of these patients later re-apply and obtain a new card, but have to pay their own medical costs in the intervening period.

The situation has been revealed by a Dublin GP, who reportedly had almost 1,500 patients deleted from his medical card list in a period of around two years.