Ghostly care puts State in worse health
Revealed at the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee by the Comptroller and Auditor General, John Purcell, the existence of an army of phantom patients is further evidence the public is being ripped off because of Government failure to police the medical card scheme.
The discrepancy, involving some 25,000 patients who do not exist, became apparent after medical cards were extended to the over-70s.
Bungling by the Departments of Finance and Health, and the country’s health boards, resulted in GPs being paid for people named on the cards who had either died or moved elsewhere.
For doctors to threaten strike action if they are compelled to re-pay the money is absolutely ridiculous.
If the tables were turned and members of the medical profession were owed the same amount by the State, doctors would be strident in their demands for reimbursement.
They should pay up.
