Local campaign succeeds in securing medical cards for sick children

By Aideen O’Flaherty

A LOCAL campaign to secure the medical card for thousands of sick children has seen a health amendment bill passed in the Dáil, which will ensure that children who are in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance will be automatically entitled to a full medical card.

The Our Children’s Health campaign was first set up in 2014 by Kingwood native Peter Fitzpatrick and his brother-in-law Kevin Shortall, which Mr Fitzpatrick explained came about after his six-year-old niece Louise had been diagnosed with cancer.

“Her parents found it extremely difficult to get a medical card, and every time I was in their house I would ask them if they had got the medical card yet and there was always some reason why they couldn’t get it.

“Eventually when Louise got the medical card it was only a temporary card, and I was so frustrated by it.

“It turned out that medical cards were based on parents’ income, it was like the child didn’t matter.”

This mobilised Mr Fitzpatrick and his brother-in-law to start campaigning for a change in the law, which saw them spending hundred of days protesting outside the Dáil and starting a petition which amassed more than 55,000 signatures.

Last Wednesday a bill to amend the Health Act 1970 to allow for children in receipt of Domiciliary Care Allowance to be entitled to medical cards was passed by the Dáil, which Mr Fitzpatrick, Mr Shortall and Mark Fitzpatrick – the parent of a sick child, who became involved in the campaign – got to witness.

Mr Fitzpatrick told The Echo: “We have been through three Ministers for Health since we started this campaign, so we knew we needed to get to the ‘top man’ to see a permanent change.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said that he began protesting outside Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s office, as he felt this would be the most effective way to get the law changed.

Mr Fitzpatrick said that when it came time for the Bill to be passed in the Dáil last week that, “The Taoiseach brought us into his office, we spent 30 minutes in the office with him while he was signing the Bill.”

“The point we made to the Taoiseach was that this is not just for children now, it’s so the parents of children who are being born now will never have to go through this.”