Doctors have accused the Department of Health of lying to the public about the medical card system.
The Irish Medical Organisation says the department's suggestion that GPs are claiming fees for medical card holders who are dead is simply propaganda.
The IMO says the department is using spin to distract attention from its own mismanagement of the medical card system.
Dr. Ray Walley is chairman of the IMO GP committee, he says that GPs don’t “claim” for medical card holders. Payments are made on the basis of patient lists maintained by the HSE and supplied to GPs.
He says that the HSE is responsible for the maintenance of the national register of deaths (along with births and marriages) in the country and he finds it extraordinary that they now seem to suggest that GPs know more about this issue than they do themselves as the legal authority on the matter.
Dr. Walley said that the notion that GPs were holding on to fees linked to deceased medical card holders was a smokescreen
“The budget has been a disaster from a health perspective. The Department are under scrutiny like never before and they have responded by trying to blame other partners in the health services and distract from the fact that they are taking medical cards away from those who need them – it is becoming increasingly apparent that the probity exercise is nothing more than a balancing figure to make the numbers add up on Budget day”
The comments come as pressure mounts on Minister James Reilly over his handling of the budget for the Department of Health.
The Minister insists he is fully in control of his department and has dismissed calls by Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein for his resignation over Budget issues.
