Private hospitals charging for tests
Deputy Fitzpatrick complained that private hospitals were charging patients, including a child with cancer, for Covid tests before treatment. The Taoiseach said such profiteering was wrong and he would raise it with the Minister for Health.
Patients using private hospitals are now facing a fee for Covid-19 testing before they go for a procedure. These are the hospitals that got millions of euro in taxpayers' money during the pandemic. I got a telephone call this morning from a constituent whose daughter has cancer and has to go to one of these hospitals regularly. She has been told that at every visit, whether for a check-up or chemotherapy, she will be charged €250. This fee is being charged in respect of children's appointments. We need clarity on this issue and we need the Taoiseach to intervene and sort it out once and for all.
Comment on this
Both I and the Minister for Health are on record as saying that private hospitals should not be profiteering out of Covid-19. What the Deputy is referring to are excessive charges and they are wrong. I will talk to the Minister for Health with a view to engaging with the private hospitals in regard to this practice.