The Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has announced that from today, September 21, inpatient hospital charges for children under the age of 16 have been abolished.
The charges that were costing parents and guardians €80 a night for their children, are now abolished in all public hospitals nationwide, due to the signing of the Commencement Order of the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No.2) Act 2022.
Stephen Donnelly revealed on Twitter, “From today inpatient hospital charges for children are gone. The €80 per day charge was costing parents up to €800 a year”.
From today inpatient hospital charges for children are gone. The €80 per day charge was costing parents up to €800 a year.
— Stephen Donnelly (@DonnellyStephen) September 21, 2022
It helps ease the ease the financial burden of parents/guardians and ensures cost is not a significant consideration when children need to be in hospital. pic.twitter.com/QxXSgpldVH
He added the reasoning behind this is because, “It helps ease the financial burden of parents/ guardians and ensures cost is not a significant consideration when children need to be in hospital”.
The Health Minister also stated, “Better access, together with affordability and improved quality are amongst my top priorities in healthcare. Therefore, I am delighted to announce that from today, children under 16 will no longer be charged when accessing public in-patient care as a patient in our public hospitals”.
He continued, “This significant change to healthcare provision in Ireland is focused towards easing the financial burden of parents or guardians when bringing their child to hospital for in-patient care”.
“In the context of current cost-of-living challenges this is another important commitment by Government towards affordability, as it will make our public hospitals free for children when they require access to treatment as a public patient”.
The news comes just a week after the new scheme that allows women aged between 17 and 25 to avail of free contraception was launched.