What about these cards?

THE EDITOR: Sometime around 2013 there was a project to create a national health card for all citizens using public healthcare and the CDAP system. This was a project to completely computerise – nowadays called digitalise – the health information of citizens. The information would be available on a card, similar to a bankcard, and accessible, with a swipe, to any doctor, health centre or hospital in the system.

I believe that by 2015 the development of this system was almost complete. People were being invited to register, and some have received their cards. Is the system now complete? If not, at what stage are we? Is it being used only for pharmaceuticals?

There was also a card introduced for the registration of people receiving social benefits – the biometric smartcard. Is this project complete? This should have been used to make the assistance payments to all in need. The database should have been already there.

If these systems were up to date, think how easy the vaccination of the elderly and ill would have been.

ANNE DE SILVA

St Joseph