Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 254: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Health and Children her plans to extend the maternity and infant scheme to include visits to the doctor on-call service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35510/05]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The maternity and infant care scheme provides an agreed programme of care, free of charge, to an expectant mother arising out of her pregnancy and to her new born baby for six weeks after birth. All expectant mothers ordinarily resident in Ireland are eligible to avail of services under the scheme. Women who choose to avail of these services are under the care of both a general practitioner of their choice and a hospital obstetrician. Care can be obtained from any general practitioner who has a contract for the provision of services under the scheme.

The scheme provides for 12 ante-natal visits, six of which are to the general practitioner and six to the chosen maternity unit or hospital in the case of a first pregnancy. In subsequent pregnancies, there are seven visits to the general practitioner and five to the maternity unit or hospital. There are also two post-natal visits to the general practitioner, at two weeks for the baby and at six weeks for mother and baby. The visits to the general practitioner would be scheduled in the normal way during normal surgery hours and I am not aware of any difficulty in this context.