Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all the contributors for their excellent presentations this morning. I have learned a great deal from them. Has there been any discussion of providing one transplant unit for the country among the medical profession, the HSE and the Department of Health? The need for a long-term plan has been highlighted. I have a serious problem with the way the HSE is dealing with the general doctor issue at the moment. We seem to be going from year to year rather than planning for the long term. I wonder if those involved in this area have worked to set out a ten-year plan with clear targets and if that includes the creation of a single unit. We are dealing in many areas nationally with reconfiguration of the service. Has the creation of a single transplant unit been part of the discussion process on such reconfiguration?

If the problem of organ donors and the availability of space to carry out the work were resolved in the morning, what would the system's maximum transplant capacity be? Professor Hickey said we should aim to carry out 300 transplants per annum. If we resolved all the other issues, how long would it take to reach that target and how many additional consultants and beds would be required? What is the maximum number of transplants that could be carried out with the current capacity in the system if we had all the necessary organ donors and theatre and bed space? It is important to identify at this stage where we are at and what we can deal with.