Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 7 Feb 1991

Vol. 404 No. 8

Written Answers. - Medical Card Statistics.

Michael Ferris

Ceist:

76 Mr. Ferris asked the Minister for Health the number of medical cards in each health board area for the years, 1988, 1989 and 1990; the number of people including dependents covered by medical cards; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Minister for Health (Dr. O'Hanlon)

The GMS (Payments) Board collates the statistics on medical cards and the latest figures available from the board are for the quarter ending 30 September, 1990. The information requested by the Deputy is as follows:

Number of medical cards current on

Health Board	31-12-88	31-12-89	30-9-90
Eastern	230,639	205,619	199,710
Midland	45,212	45,265	45,713
Mid-Western	59,162	59,104	59,080
North-Eastern	71,188	68,546	65,998
North-Western	55,650	53,975	54,261
South-Eastern	83,157	78,419	77,685
Southern	104,617	104,655	101,165
Western	94,893	93,917	93,261

Number of persons including dependants covered by medical cards on

Health Board	31-12-88	31-12-89	30-9-90
Eastern	406,288	364,956	351,896
Midland	83,162	81,891	81,941
Mid-Western	105,161	102,977	101,996
North-Eastern	128,108	121,999	118,240
North-Western	102,740	99,207	98,851
South-Eastern	151,704	142,626	140,810
Southern	181,887	180,112	173,251
Western	165,799	163,050	160,826

Prior to the introduction, in March 1989, of the capitation based system of payment for doctors participating in the GMS each health board carried out a review to eliminate the cards of deceased card holders from their registers. This was the main contributing factor for the reductions between 1989 and 1988.