Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will be very brief. A Programme for a Partnership Government has a section entitled Improving Waiting Times for Hospital Procedures. Today I received a letter from the hospital in Tullamore indicating that a person would be waiting 48 months for an outpatient appointment. Along with other Members of the House, I have been working to reduce the waiting lists by facilitating people to travel across the Border to have procedures carried out on cataracts, hips and knees. People who had a procedure done in January are still waiting to be reimbursed. A senior citizen in her 88th year, who had to borrow from the local credit union to have a cataract removed from her eye so that she could see, has been waiting six months to be reimbursed. What will the Government do to support people who are out there supporting themselves where it has failed?

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