asked the Minister for Health (a) the number of medical cards issued by Tipperary South Riding County Council for the year ended 30th June, 1961; (b) the number of applications refused; (c) the number of persons from whom cards were demanded back; and (d) the number of farm labourers in category (c).
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Medical Cards in South Tipperary.
6.
The following is the information requested by the Deputy, so far as it is available:
(a) The number of medical cards issued by Tipperary South Riding County Council in the year ended 30th June, 1961, otherwise than in replacement of current cards, was 595.
(b) The number of applications refused was 207.
(c) The number of persons from whom cards were demanded back was 405.
(d) I understand that it is not possible for the health authority to abstract the information requested by the Deputy under this head, but the number of labourers of all classes in category (c) was 70.
I should add that the local authority has also informed me that heretofore separate medical cards were issued in many instances to individual members of families living together so that members of the same household might have more than one medical card between them. It was recently decided that a single medical card should in future be issued to cover all the eligible members of a family living together and this change in procedure has contributed to a general reduction in the number of cards.