Call for special medical card for cancer patients

At the recent meeting of Offaly County Council Cllr Noel Bourke seconded a motion put forward by Cllr Sinead Dooley calling for a special Medical Card Scheme to be put in place whereby patients who have been diagnosed with cancer would immediately be given a medical card for a set term while they are undergoing treatment and subsequent monitoring. “At present such people have to go through the normal medical card assessment process by the HSE which can take a considerable period of time and this causes anxiety and worry which people don’t need when such a diagnosis has been made,” said Cllr Bourke. Cllr Bourke noted that the Minister stated recently that she intends streamlining the medical card application process but part of that streamlining should be the issuing of cards to cancer patients immediately on being diagnosed. The motion was approved by the council and it was agreed to write to the Minister asking that it be implemented. Cllr Bourke said the motion makes a great deal of sense and he will be pressing the Minister to implement it.