Denis Naughten (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

We need to bring the Minister for Health before the House as a matter of urgency to find out why the HSE has been so slow to recognise long Covid as a condition. It is estimated that there is somewhere around 35,000 people affected by long Covid, but during the past 18 months patients have found it next nigh to impossible to get doctors to believe them, even though this condition has been recognised by the World Health Organization.

The economic cost alone is in excess of €50 million and continues to grow yet our health service is not even counting the numbers. The physicians of patients with post-viral chronic syndromes most commonly refer them to the mental health services, suggesting that it is all in their minds. This is not good enough. This issue needs to be addressed immediately.

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