Medical-card holders are to be entitled to the same standard of eye care as is available to people with full PRSI entitlements, the Minister for Health and Children, Mr Cowen, has announced. Currently medical-card holders in most areas must wait several months for an initial eye examination in their local health board clinic, and wait again for their spectacles.
The new scheme means a medical-card holder will be able to attend an accredited optician for eye tests and spectacles on the same level as people with PRSI entitlements.