The government had no intention of charging patients for healthcare services and neither did it plan to raise the payment for sewage services, it said yesterday.

Instead, the government was focusing on improving primary care by providing more services and access to services in communities and by strengthening the role of the family doctor by allowing access to medical records to enable patients to receive a more personalised service. With the new proposals, a family doctor would also be able to change patients' medicines free of charge.

The government, which was reacting to media reports over the weekend, said the meter payment for the sewage service would not be changed. The payment, it explained had components in order to comply with EU directives, so part would cover water expenses and part would cover sewage. It added that water, electricity and sewage services were being subsidised to the tune of €41 million.

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