Medical card used as political fodder

I HAVE been in medicine for 36 years in a consultant capacity and I have never witnessed such a low dastardly stroke pulled by any government as that perpetrated by this one in using the medical card as political fodder to cover health department incompetence.

Health Minister Mary Harney had to be the author of this stunt as she has a total inability to engage the medical profession on the anomalies of contracts both for the hospital-based services and the primary GP healthcare services.

Now she has set up a third firewall protection by using the over-70s’ medical card-holders as political ammunition to throw at the doctors for the inability of the Department of Health to negotiate proper financial conditions.