Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 30 March 2021

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health

Operation of the Medical Card Scheme: Discussion

Photo of Gino KennyGino Kenny (Dublin Mid West, People Before Profit Alliance) | Oireachtas source

Mr. Ryan could probably answer my second question, which is on the primary care reimbursement service. I am not sure if anybody can answer it, but hopefully somebody can. It relates to those who have been granted a ministerial licence for medical cannabis products. My experience from working with families trying to reimburse under ministerial licences has been extremely arbitrary and bureaucratic. This has put families in a very difficult position in which some of them could not access reimbursements and, in one case, the family had to look at selling their home. The situation is far from ideal. The news that the medical cannabis programme will be up and running in the summer is welcome. My experience and that of other families of getting reimbursement under the primary care reimbursement service has been haphazard. Will the witnesses clarify why, in some cases, it takes up to nine months to get reimbursement for a medicine that works for children and why it is so difficult? Meeting the criteria places a financial burden on families.

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