Sligo General Hospital - what next?
The announcement of the imminent transfer of Cancer breast care service from Sligo to Galway has proved to be a huge bone of contention in the north west. Another Irish solution to an Irish problem.
A lot of nonsense talk and people beating about the bush may have been immersed along with the emotions involved, but the stark reality is that the north west has been well and truly shafted.
The hospital takes in parts of south Donegal and Leitrim as well. So the loss is not about one county.
Those looking at the dumbing down of Monaghan Hospital this week and the transfer of A&E to Cavan, can only help wonder what plans the geniuses in the Health Service Executive have in store for Sligo, in the months and years ahead.
Engage with the people. The HSE and their “experts” could not even get that right. For many, that was and remains the greatest crime.
Deputy Dr. Jimmy Devins of Fianna Fail said that he would vote against the government, if a vote on the retention of breast care services came before the Dáil.
That is good to hear at this very late stage, but the calls that Devins should have resigned from Fianna Fáil, really would have defeated the cause.
Minister for Health Mary Harney and her PD promises
He said that he could not come out any stronger while he was a Junior Minister, but on reflection, he should have.
As it is, he got the red card from Taoiseach Brian Cowen anyway, even though he played the party line.
There is a lot of Fianna Fáil history in the Devins family, that will outlive both this government and the Taoiseach, so that has also to be taken into account.
Whatever chance you have of getting changes done as a result of being a member of the government party in a country, as an independent you only can become a sabre rattler from the outside.
He is still trying but is not likely to succeed on his own.
Not thousands but tens of thousands need to be on the streets of the north west, local Fianna Fail politicians need to stop hiding and come out and threaten to leave en masse, if this death sentence goes ahead without any reprieve or fresh analysis.
People in Galway will be just as interested to find out, where this “centre of excellence” exists. It may indeed come about, but what happens in the future will be of little comfort to those who will have died in the meantime.
