David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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7. To ask the Minister for Health the supports and plans that his Department has put in place for supporting Ukrainian refugees in the short, medium and long-term; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16799/22]

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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We all want to do everything possible to support the people of Ukraine. I think that Ireland had been very generous in its response taking in as many refugees as possible. That is what we should do. We all support that in this House. We also need to look at the individual needs of all the refugees who are coming here. The Minister for Health has responsibility to ensure that their full health needs are met and that there is a full audit of those needs. What are the short-, medium- and long-term plans that are being put in place?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I fully agree. Women and children in the main are arriving in Ireland, fleeing a horrific and illegal war in Ukraine, and it is essential that they receive all the health and social care supports that they need. A huge amount of work is ongoing between my Department, the HSE, other Departments and non-government agencies to ensure access to the services they require. This includes access to acute care, chronic care, services for children's health, mental health, disabilities, maternity care, older people and many more. Additional health supports are provided where required, including mental health and psychological supports, including for PTSD, and services for people with long-term illnesses.

Refugees from Ukraine are granted temporary protection status. This entitles them to a PPS number which allows access to health care services, in line with other refugee groups and Irish citizens. In the short term, refugees are provided with rapid access to basic priority primary care in emergency accommodation. The aim of this service is to identify the need for ongoing clinical care of priority medical conditions, to triage and to provide an assessment of healthcare needs of refugees. In the medium and long term, refugees are entitled to apply for a medical card for each adult and child dependant. At the moment, temporary medical card numbers are being provided immediately. The medical card application form has been translated into Ukrainian and Russian and there are supports for people to apply for the more permanent medical cards too.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I welcome the Minister's response. The response has been good and swift. There is always more that we can do but the generosity shown by Irish people and the speed with which the political system has responded to the needs of those coming from Ukraine has been exceptional.

There are two elements around health. We need to make sure that people who come here get access to the very best healthcare treatments. The Minister has said that primary care is the start and that medical cards will be issued to those who need them, which will be most of them. That needs to happen as quickly as possible. I imagine there are also people coming here who are qualified healthcare professionals. Is work being done to identify who they are and what skills and qualifications they have? That could then accelerate matching those qualifications with the standards here to bring some of them into the public system in the areas they work in, which I am sure they would assist and be more than happy to take part in.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The short answer is "Yes". This is something I discussed when I met the Ukrainian ambassador. We have many qualified healthcare professionals here. We have an amazing group of Ukrainian clinicians here already. We have been working with them to try to send humanitarian supplies back to Ukraine. A lot has been done there and we will continue to work with the Ukrainian community already here. The Deputy quite rightly said that we have doctors, nurses, midwives, allied health and social care professionals coming in. They have full rights to work. We obviously need as many clinicians as we can get in our own service. That will also help with the provision of care to Ukrainians coming in; it helps with language and culture and they will have a better understanding of the models of care that the refugees will be used to and the most appropriate care for them. We are engaging directly with the appropriate agencies to identify them and bring them into the system, and critically, in a way that works for them given everything that they have been through.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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That is very welcome. If there are any Ukrainian refugees who want to work here they should be entitled and enabled to do so. A difficulty we have had for people coming from all different countries over many years is in professional registration when matching our regulations with those of the countries from which they are coming. Are there any difficulties there? Are there people who have come already who are now going to work in the healthcare system? If any problems have been identified, will they be resolved? That is really important for those with any medical qualifications. We talked about health and social care and the lack of therapists in the system. If there are Ukrainians coming here who have expertise and qualifications and skills but also language, this is really important because they can work and engage directly with children especially who might not have English, for example. There will be all sorts of difficulties and challenges. There are many opportunities and benefits to bringing as many in as possible and I hope that what the Minister has outlined will happen and very quickly.

Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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On Sunday I met someone who is highly qualified in obstetrics and gynaecology from Ukraine. They have over ten years' experience. Has the Department engaged with the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland and the Irish Medical Council on how the process will be put in place for their qualifications to be recognised so that they can give the support to the people and work in the Irish medical system?

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I will get an up-to-date report. I understand that there has been extensive engagement. As Deputy Burke rightly points out, we must have a process whereby the qualifications are verified. We are talking about a highly developed country with a highly developed healthcare system. My assumption is that they will be qualified to a very high level. The Irish Medical Council will be involved but we are not starting from scratch. We already have employed within the HSE a community of incredible healthcare workers from Ukraine. I have met many of them. We are working with them to send supplies out. They were instrumental in working with Lifeline and the HSE in repurposing nine of our ambulances and sending them out as well as a lot more supplies. I will get a note for both Deputies on exactly where we are at around identifying these people, verifying the qualifications and then deploying them in a way which, first and foremost, works for them. For instance, there may be childcare requirements that we need to put in place.