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Almost 3,000 medical cards axed in Donegal 22.10.14

SOME 2,872 medical cards have been lost in Co Donegal in the last year, figures obtained by Fianna Fáil reveal.
The number of medical cards in the county has been cut from 91,013 to 88,141 from September 2013 - September 2014. The figure includes a reduction of almost 100 in the number of over 70s medical cards - from 14,257 to 14,186.
Inishowen-based Fianna Fáil TD for Donegal Charlie McConalogue condemned the "disgraceful" cuts.
"We now have clear evidence of the scale of the cuts. In one year alone almost 3,000 medical cards were taken off people in Donegal - all at the hands of (then Health) Minister James Reilly," he added.
"For two years the Government has ignored the issue and denied that there was a deliberate policy to cut medical cards for people with serious illnesses and disabilities and the over 70s. It took the loss of hundreds of council seats to make the Government sit up and listen.
“However despite claiming to stop these cuts and to begin restoring medical cards the Government is still taking cards away from people desperately in need of them.
"I am dealing with cases every week of people having their cards withdrawn and then being denied their cards again on appeal. It is astonishing that thousands of families are still enduring so much anguish, hurt and expense at the hands of this Government."
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