Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

As the Deputy is aware, this issue was the subject of a full debate in the House on 26 February 2009. As I indicated then, the HSE plans to roll out a diabetic retinopathy screening programme on a phased basis by HSE area. It is proposed to commence in the HSE west region, as a population-based screening programme had previously been established in the former North-Western Health Board. Funding of €750,000 is being allocated to implement this first phase of the screening service. This will allow the service to be offered to approximately 30,000 people with diabetes, registered with the programme, between west Limerick and north Donegal. It is estimated that this programme will commence in the third quarter of 2009. Once the first phase has been established, the programme will be rolled out on a phased basis, having regard to overall resource availability and other competing priorities.

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