‘Vasectomy should be more available’: Only two doctors in Cork/Kerry available to medical card holders

Vasectomy services should be available in all primary care centres, the Labour Party representative in Cork South West has said.

It emerged in a response to a Dáil question that only two family doctors in the Cork/Kerry region provided the male-sterlisation service for medical-card holders.

Evie Nevin, who stood unsuccessfully for the Labour Party in the recent local elections, told The Echo that the Government and the Health Service Executive needed to address the shortage of GPs that provide the service in the region, following the disclosure in the response from Cork Kerry Community Health Care to the question posed by Labour Party TD Duncan Smith.

“This limited availability poses a significant barrier to reproductive health options for men,” said Ms. Nevin. “Why is this procedure not available in all primary care centres? It’s a 10-30-minute procedure.”

In the response from the HSE to Mr Smith, the head of services for primary care in the Cork/Kerry region, Priscilla Lynch, said that no GP in the region had requested the specialised contract for the provision of vasectomies since 2016.

Health Minister Stephen Donnelly said GPs were “required to provide eligible patients with all proper and necessary treatment of a kind usually undertaken by a general practitioner and not requiring special skill or experience of a degree or kind which general practitioners cannot reasonably be expected to possess”.

“Vasectomy services for men are not routinely provided by GPs, nor is there a special item of service for vasectomies provided for under the GMS contract,” said Mr Donnelly.

“However, there are local arrangement in some areas throughout the country with GPs for the provision of vasectomy services to GMS patients.”