Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Last week, the Saolta University Health Care Group announced the closure of the two day per week cath lab service at Sligo University Hospital, SUH. This announcement sent shockwaves not just through the community in Sligo, but across Leitrim, Roscommon, Donegal, Mayo and Cavan. This two day per week service was inadequate to begin with. What we really need is a full-time service. It is a slap in the face that this service is being withdrawn. What steps were taken by the Minister or the HSE to stop this service closing at the end of June? I sat in this Chamber just a few weeks ago and listened to the Taoiseach tell a Deputy that the second cath lab in Waterford is being funded and that staff resources are in place. Good luck to the people of Waterford and the south east. They need that lab but what about the north west? Why are we being bypassed again? North of a line from Dublin to Galway, there are no specialist centres. There are two in Dublin and one each in Waterford, Cork, Limerick and Galway. According to the national heart attack audit report, it is estimated that it takes heart attack patients approximately three hours to reach Galway from their time of arrival in Sligo University Hospital. That is the median time. The ideal time is 90 minutes. What government could stand over this discrimination? Will the Minister of State explain to us this evening why this is happening?

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