Family doctors have been instructed by the Irish Medical Organisation to boycott plans by Minister for Health Mary Harney to start handing out 200,000 doctor-only medical cards from next month.
The organisation says GPs have not been consulted about how the scheme will work and several aspects of the new "half medical cards" still have to be clarified in negotiations with it.
In addition, the union says new legislation recently enacted to facilitate the introduction of the cards represents a material change to GPs' contracts and the changes need to be agreed with the organisation.
It has sought urgent negotiations with Ms Harney and the Health Service Executive over the proposed changes and has directed its 2,000 GP members not to co-operate with the introduction of the cards until negotiations are complete.
Ms Harney reacted angrily to the news yesterday. She said the only change for GPs was that they would have to write prescriptions on a different prescription form and it was ridiculous to suggest this required negotiation.
Furthermore, she said GPs would on average earn €25,000 a year for providing care to doctor-only medical cardholders. She did not accept the introduction of the cards represented a change to doctors' contracts and said they would not be paid more money for administering the scheme.
Dr Martin Daly, chair of the IMO's GP committee, said the boycott was not about more money for GPs. "We do not want a repeat of the over-70s situation. It served nobody well but we refuse to proceed with the new scheme without being sure what the practical ramifications of it are for our members on the ground."