Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)
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Question 63: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will address the shortfall in funding for amputees whereby they have to pay a considerable amount of the cost of prosthetic arms and legs; her views on whether this is inappropriate and out of line with the practice in other countries; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6541/09]

John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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I have been advised by the Health Service Executive, that when a patient has a limb amputated, the acute hospital is responsible for providing the first prosthesis. After that, the client will periodically attend follow-up appointments with the attending Consultant or the General Practitioner who may seek sanctioning of requests for new prostheses or repairs to the original prosthesis. If there is a sound clinical reason to sanction the item and the client has a valid Medical Card or Long-Term Illness Card, the prosthesis will be sanctioned.

Amputees who do not possess either a Medical Card or a Long-Term Illness Card are liable to meet the costs directly. They have a number of options (a) they can claim off their private insurers; (b) they can meet the costs themselves and submit a claim to the Revenue Commissioners via the Form Med 1 and (c) they can apply for a Medical Card and request that their special circumstances by considered especially on the grounds of "undue financial hardship" on the individual or their family.