Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)

Currently, approximately 600 dentists are providing care dental care for medical card patients. The number was over 1,200 when dentists were operating more privately. I have found out that Cork university dental hospital cannot take in medical card patients. It can do so if they are referred in by accident and emergency or by another dental practice, but it cannot take them in directly because the hospital does not have a GMS panel number. The hospital would be quite prepared to take on medical card patients if it had that number. In view of the substantial drop in the number of dentists operating privately who are prepared to take on medical card patients and the huge influx of people from the Kerry area, for instance, coming in and looking for dentists in the Cork area, I ask that this issue be looked at.

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