Right to Health Care must be enshrined in the Constitution

The Sinn Féin general election candidate in County Wexford has said that the right to health care must be actively enshrined in our constitution. Speaking today in New Ross town, Cllr Anthony Kelly has said that the failed two tiered health system has cost hundreds of Irish lives over the past decade, and that change must be made now to safeguard our people.

Cllr Kelly said;

"We must reform our health system now. How many people have been taken from us because they couldn't afford adequate health care. Even during the supposed prosperity of the Celtic Tiger, people were dying due to an unfair health system, where those who may have needed care less could leap frog seriously sick people through the use of an unjust two tiered health system. The two-tier system is inherently inequitable and inefficient and it has to go. Sinn Féin has comprehensive proposals to transform our health care services."

"What we are proposing is the creation of a new universal public health care system for Ireland that provides care to all free at the point of delivery, on the basis of need alone, and funded from general fair and progressive taxation. We are proposing the establishment of a Health Funding Commission to help plan the transition to the new system. This is doable. Ignore the naysayers in Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour. They couldn't for see this change when we were the third richest country in the world, of course they cant envision it now. But we can"

"In power, Sinn Féin would  abolish prescription charges for medical card patients and introduce measures to reduce the cost of drugs by tackling waste and profiteering. We would restore Ministerial and Departmental responsibility for public health services, remove the excessive bureaucracy of the HSE and cap salaries at 100,000 euros. Above all the next Dail must actively enshrine the right to health care in our constitution."