Donegal Sinn Féin
councillor, Pádraig MacLochlainn has expressed
dismay that health ministers north and south have
held no discussions to date about establishing a
satellite cancer centre for the North West.
Cllr. MacLochlainn said this was despite their
obligation to undertake collaborative All-Ireland
projects and pre-election promises from the
Government.
"The North's Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has
now confirmed to our colleague, Pat Doherty, MP for
West Tyrone that he has held no discussions with
Health Minister Mary Harney on the issue," he said.
He said Mr. McGimpsey "somewhat dilutes" his
commitment by stating that specialist regional
services are provided by the Cancer Centre at
Belfast City Hospital to meet "Northern Ireland's"
needs with respect to radiotherapy until 2015.
"When our party wrote to Mary Harney on the same
issue last year, we received an acknowledgement of
our letter and nothing of substance since," added
Cllr. MacLochlainn.
"It is intolerable that cancer patients are
subjected to these long journeys and prolonged stays
away from home when there are two local hospitals -
Altnagelvin or Letterkenny - that could house this
unit to meet the holistic needs of cancer patients
in this part of Ireland.
"The provision of adequte regional cancer care
facilities for the North West is a priority issue
for Sinn Féin and we will continue to pressurise the
Irish government and our colleagues in the Six
County Executive to accept that this issue has to be
dealt with as a matter of urgency if we are going to
address the disparity in access to cancer service
provision on this island." |
