Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-Galway, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for coming in. It is a pity the Minister for Health is not present. I think an inquiry needs to be held into this. The child is 17 years of age. He had an accident. NoWDOC is in chaos in Carrick-on-Shannon. This child went to Sligo hospital but it does not have the facilities to deal with his situation. We are supposed to have so-called centres of excellence that include Galway hospital. The Minister of State's buddy, the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, does not want to see a new road built, when we talk about the need for it, between Sligo and Galway, which would cover Collooney and all that area. It is being blocked at the moment. That youngster went into the hospital in Galway with his parents. The exact words they were told was that the hospital would put the part of the finger that was cut off in the fridge. They were given tablets or whatever to try to kill the pain. The words that were used were: "Get a B&B and come in in the morning at 7 a.m. and we will try to do something."

It is disgraceful that in what we call a centre of excellence a youngster of that age is treated in that way. Whatever the hope was of saving the finger, there was no hope when they had to head home again, leave part of the finger in the fridge, come back in the morning, and then wonder if it would be sewn together. The game is over at that stage. I am not a doctor but I know that much. We talk about health services improving. It is unbelievable that for emergency surgical cases that come in, where quick movement is needed, that all this family was told in Galway hospital was that the finger would be put in a fridge and they should get bed and breakfast accommodation. You would swear that family was raking money in. Following all their trauma, they headed home and had to come back the next morning. Unfortunately, my understanding is that the finger was not saved. That child has to live life. If he were to do a trade or something, it will unfortunately probably be a hindrance to him. At least if you made an honest rattle at it, or tried to solve it, everything would be done, but nothing was done. It is a disgrace.

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