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UKRAINIAN refugees are having to travel as far as Poland for dental treatment due to difficulties accessing care in Scotland, MSPs heard today.
Andrii Kuslii, Ukraine’s head of consulate in Edinburgh, told a Holyrood committee that his compatriots are also struggling to access social and rented housing.
A total of 22,990 people have arrived from the war-torn country on a visa with Scottish sponsors, while more than 6,000 people are in “welcome accommodation” — either hotel rooms or cabins on cruise ships docked near Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Mr Kuslii thanked Scotland for its “unwavering support of our people,” but he warned: “One of the most difficult issues is housing — there is no social housing.”
He told the external affairs committee that social housing providers are not recognising Ukrainians in emergency accommodation as homeless, while private landlords require credit history and guarantors which displaced people usually cannot provide.
The consul added: “They don’t have a possibility to register with dental care and are forced to go, for instance, to Poland to get dental services.”
Campaigners have repeatedly warned of an exodus of NHS dentists following more than a decade of Tory austerity pay.
