Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick, Fine Gael)
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392. To ask the Minister for Health if general practitioners can impose a charge of €20, on medical card patients, to provide a script for vital medication; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7047/15]

Kathleen Lynch (Cork North Central, Labour)
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Section 11 of the General Medical Services (GMS) General Practitioner (GP) Capitation Contract, which was introduced in 1989, provides that the medical practitioner shall provide for eligible persons, on behalf of the Health Service Executive, all proper and necessary treatment of a kind usually undertaken by a general practitioner and not requiring special skill or experience of a degree or kind which general practitioners cannot reasonably be expected to possess.

Section 18 of the Contract also states that the medical practitioner shall prescribe such drugs and medicines as he/she considers necessary for any person for whom he/she is obliged to provide services.

GPs who hold GMS contracts with the HSE must not seek or accept money from medical card or GP visit card holders for services covered under the GMS contract.