Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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710. To ask the Minister for Health if a company (details supplied) can be requested to approve high-tech surgical theatres as approved facilities for the purpose of carrying out skin treatments in view of the growing incidence of skin cancer and the need for immediate surgical treatment. [8123/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The matter raised by the Deputy is a commercial matter for Vhi. In my role as Minister for Health I have a governance and oversight role over the Vhi, which is defined by the Voluntary Health Insurance Acts 1957-2018 and the 2016 Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies. I do not have a role in the commercial decision-making of any of the companies within the Vhi Group as this is the role of the statutory Vhi Board. I am therefore not in a position to request Vhi to provide cover for any particular procedure or service other than those outlined in minimum benefit regulations which provide for a broad level of cover which all health insurance products sold in the State must fulfil.

I am aware of the matter raised by the Deputy as it is the subject of correspondence which I have received, however as this is a commercial matter between a private provider and Vhi I cannot intervene as Minister for Health.