The Minister for Health has been branded as incompetent by Fine Gael over his announcement last night that the cost of hospital beds and prescriptions is set to increase.
Mr Martin announced last night that the threshold for the Drugs Payment Scheme is being raised to €70 per month in the New Year.
It will lead to a total annual saving of €7.2 million, the minister said.
Previously, patients were liable to pay only the first €65 of the cost of prescription medicines each month. It is the second such increase in the past five months.
Mr Martin also said the charge for a bed in a private hospital will go up by five per cent.
Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, said Mr Martin was deliberately targeting the poor and sick in order to recoup the millions of euro he has "squandered through his mismanagement of the health services".
"The minister is now brazenly expecting those who are struggling to provide their own healthcare needs to prop up his crumbling health service," she said.
