Last night a constituent brought a prescription for antibiotics to an out-of-hours chemist. The family has a medical card but because the prescribed medicine was out of stock, she was charged €17. This was for the very same medicine, amoxicillin. To add insult to injury, the medicine she received was made by an Irish company, Athlone Laboratories, in Roscommon. If that was not bad enough, the lady in front of her was also charged for her prescription. She was charged €54 with a medical card. People with medical cards can barely afford the reduced prescription charges let alone the actual cost. When will the Government act and ensure medicine shortages are addressed and the generic substitutes are covered under the General Medical Services, GMS? People are going without medication.

This is an issue on which the Department has been engaged closely with the Health Products Regulatory Authority, HPRA. The authority is broadly satisfied that where there are shortages, there are substitutes available, as per the two examples the Deputy just provided. If the Deputy would like to send me on the details with regard to medical cards covering what the doctor has prescribed as well as generic substitutes, I will certainly ask the Department to get back to her with a detailed response.