Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I refer to the Sláintecare report and the issue raised by my colleague, Deputy Calleary, about potential cuts to community pharmacies. Can the Tánaiste explain why vulnerable medical card holders will now have to pay €10 per month to have their medicines separated into the daily dosage? This service was provided free of charge heretofore. The family of a vulnerable individual living on disability allowance with an intellectual disability received a letter from its pharmacy effectively saying that either it takes the medicines in bulk, where it will beup to the family to allocate those medicines on a daily basis. These are people who would be taking a multiplicity of medications, and clearly would not have the capacity to separate the medicines into the daily dosage. If they are not able to do that and they want to pharmacy to do it, the suggestion is it will cost the family €10. That is a bit callous and maybe it is something that the Tánaiste might reflect on with the Minister for Health.

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