Members of the Ballybay/Clones MD will write to the Department of Health and to the Minister for Health, to demand that they immediately contact all Pharmacies and GPs with clear instructions on the roll out of the free HRT scheme.
The motion was proposed by Sinn Féin's Sinéad Flynn and seconded by her party colleague Cllr Pat Treanor.
The free HRT scheme was announced as part of Budget 25 in October, with legislation to take affect from the 1st January 2025.
However, after speaking to a number of GPs and Pharmacists in her area, Cllr Flynn expressed "disappointment" that many are only finding out about the scheme through various media channels.
To date they have received no clear guidelines or communication on how the system will operate and an IT system has not yet been developed to manage the scheme.
Speaking to Northern Sound, Cllr Flynn says there is no expectation that this scheme will be available in January despite recent announcements by government.
Cllr Flynn continued: "To date following conversations with local pharmacists and local GP's, no formal communication regarding said scheme has been received by either the GP's prescribing for this scheme or the pharmacists dispensing the medication. There is currently a lack of HRT products in Ireland to match demand, as most HRT products are in short supply this will undoubtedly increase the cost of the products available, the question raised was who will cover those increase in costs? It was agreed unanimously by the elected representatives in the Ballybay/Clones MD to write to the department for an urgent response to this motion."
