Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 3 Apr 2001

Vol. 533 No. 6

Written Answers. - Medical Cards.

Bernard Allen

Ceist:

279 Mr. Allen asked the Minister for Health and Children the reason the number of medical cards in circulation throughout the State fell by over 2,500 in the last three months of 2000; and the number of medical cards in each county on 31 December 1995, 31 December 1999, 31 December 2000 and 1 March 2001. [10016/01]

Minister for Health and Children (Mr. Martin):

The number of persons covered under the GMS scheme at any time, either nationally or in any health board area, varies for a number of reasons. The causal factors accounting for the recent fall in numbers include: economic development and rising employment levels; positive changes in income levels; better management of medical card record systems by health boards to remove persons from the records who have, for example, died; and, importantly, failure on the part of applicants to return relevant information.

The number of persons covered by medical cards on a county basis are detailed in the following tabular statement.

Health Board	1995	1999	2000
Eastern	372,244	334,031	333,390
DublinWicklowKildare	300,13635,72336.385	265,00035,04633,985	265,76732,61735,006
Midland	81,386	72,859	71,403
LongfordWestmeathOffalyLaois	13,11822,58323,99421,691	12,45020,65820,85718,894	12,55720,66220,08618,098
Mid-Western	108,156	96.734	95,611
ClareLimerickTipperary N.R.	31,94955,02721,180	28,80349,49018,441	29,54347,85218,216
North-Eastern	126,092	112,673	105,223
CavanLouthMeathMonaghan	22,62139,46541,10122,905	20,28538,43733,51420,437	19,11736,33730,93418,835
North-Western	102,841	98,254	97,901
DonegalLeitrimSligo	69,76812,36120,712	66,44811,76620,040	66,57711,55519,769
South-Eastern	147,534	137,281	135,545
CarlowKilkennyTipperary S.R.WaterfordWexford	17,05822,15328,46638,69341,164	16,18420,34527,05135,52338,178	15,96719,77926,46235,08738,250
Southern	185,734	170,093	169,929
CorkKerry	138,11447,620	127,44742,646	126,85843,071
Western	153,068	142,262	139,053
GalwayMayoRoscommon	73,47456,13823,456	69,10251,78721,373	67,75050,72820,575
Grand Total	1,277,055	1,164,187	1,148,055
% Population	35.76%	31.42%	30.32%

The figures for March 2001 will not be available until July 2001, since the figues are prepared three months in arrears.