asked the Minister for Health whether itinerants and their families are entitled to free medical services; and if so, what services have been provided for them during the past two years.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Free Medical Services for Itinerants.
37.
An itinerant who can show that he is in what is commonly referred to as the lower income group (and it is likely that practically all itinerants can show this) is entitled to a comprehensive range of health services, without charge, for himself and his dependants. These include the General Medical Service provided through district medical officers, the General Institutional and Specialist Services and the Maternity and Infant Care Service. Partly to cater for the special circumstances of itinerants, there is special provision in the Regulations on the provision of general medical services for the issue of temporary authorisations for obtaining these services, as a supplement to the normal issue of medical cards.
Records are not kept specifying instances where itinerants use the services and I am therefore not in a position to give the information requested in the second part of the question.
I should perhaps draw attention to a recent statement issued by the Minister for Local Government in which it was indicated that, among the immediate steps to be taken to meet the main recommendations in the Report of the Commission on Itinerancy, local authorities will be exhorted to acquaint itinerants of the health services available to them, to encourage them to avail of these services as much as possible and to arrange for regular visiting of their encampments by health personnel.