Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have raised this issue of the qualification criteria and the discretionary scheme on a number of occasions. Now, there is a clinical panel in place to assess and adjudicate on discretionary grounds. My concern is, and I believe every Deputy has had the same experience, that people who have been diagnosed with cancer are finding it more difficult to get medical cards on the discretionary ground of health needs. That is a problem. I accept there has been a major increase in the number of medical cards issued to the public. The reason for that is the economic downturn. People are assessed on financial means.

However, there must be greater flexibility with regard to qualification on medical grounds. Heretofore, if a person was diagnosed with cancer, he or she made an application for a medical card and was granted it, not on the basis of financial need but on medical grounds under the discretionary scheme. This clinical panel has raised the bar so high that people simply cannot access discretionary medical cards on health grounds. That is the indication I have been given. I raised this in the Dáil on a number of occasions and I passed the details to the Taoiseach, as he invited me to do one morning after Leaders' Questions. This issue is causing huge hardship for people who have been diagnosed with cancer.

The Irish Cancer Society and others are of the view, which I believe is correct, that there should be a mechanism whereby a person who is diagnosed with cancer can apply for and get a medical card, and that it would be timebound. Major advances have been made in cancer care, cancer treatment and survival rates. They could be granted a card for the duration of the treatment and any secondary aspects to that treatment, and once they have completed the course of treatment and received the all clear, the medical card could be withdrawn.

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