Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I accept what Deputy Scanlon says about greater awareness. The burden of illness questionnaire is very new and many people do not know about it. I had occasion to write to the Secretary General of my own Department recently about my concerns with the application of a constituent. We, as politicians, will always come across the bad cases and the cases that were not dealt with properly, while there are almost 1.6 million in the system who have full medical cards and another 500,000 have general practitioner, GP, visit cards, amounting to over 2 million of the population, but we as representatives will always pick up the cases that were wronged by the system. Our view of the world through that can be overly negative but that does not take from every individual having a right to get what they should, and there should be a process that backs it up. I accept the Deputy's point about increased awareness and I will take that up with the Department to make sure that every GP is aware of the burden of illness questionnaire.

Deputy O'Rourke mentioned somebody who is terminally ill and cannot do the paperwork. In that situation, a consultant can write a letter to the medical card section on the part of the patient. I have witnessed these situations. A medical card would be issued immediately without any questions asked if somebody is so terminally ill that he or she cannot do the paperwork. There is a system to deal with that but, as with all systems, it is not perfect and there are always glitches. I welcome the opportunity and attention that people have brought to the issue.

Deputy Butler addressed eligibility and financial means. At the end of the day, the medical card will not make anybody better. It will not assist their treatment if they have cancer. We have to be clear on that. All it will do is ensure that they are not under financial burden and we have to be careful with that. People could be diagnosed, as I was myself a number of years ago, with a skin cancer which is something very mild. I do not need a medical card. I did not need it then and I do not need it now. There is not a need for everybody who has been diagnosed with cancer to be given a medical card. It just does not stack up. While it sounds like it would be a good idea, it does not stack up in all cases. It is still about financial eligibility and making sure that there is no additional financial burden whatsoever on people. That is the role of the medical card as opposed to treating the person.

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