Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Last Friday, I attended a briefing by a cardiologist, Dr. Donal Kelly, in Sligo General Hospital. He is campaigning for the provision of a catheterisation laboratory in Sligo General Hospital. It would address the needs of those with cardiac problems in an area with a population of some 276,000. That excludes large portions of County Donegal, primarily because there is currently a catheterisation laboratory in Altnagelvin Area Hospital in Derry. However, if one includes Donegal the figure is well in excess of 300,000 people. The last Government approved the provision of a catheterisation laboratory in 2009 but due to the economic crash it did not provide the necessary financial support, so this is not a new issue.

It was taken up by this Government and the former Minister for Health, Deputy Reilly, instituted a review group. The conclusion of the group was that it would prefer to wait and see the turnout in the Derry hospital location and what the benefits of that would be before it would move to approve a catheterisation laboratory in Sligo. If one looks at the map of Ireland, like the cancer services issue which caused, and continues to cause, controversy in my part of the country, it is as if a blank sheet of paper has been draped across the region north of a line from Dublin to Galway. It is as if the region does not exist in terms of the provision of these types of services.

The doctor in question has pointed out that this would be cost effective. In fact, it would not only be cost neutral but it would save €3.6 million over the ten-year period of the lifetime of the technology involved. The matter has been raised in the Lower House by local Government Deputies but they only got as far as tabling a parliamentary question, which seems to be just about the optics. Parliamentary questions are very important when wishing to highlight issues but this issue has existed for so long that it requires a decision.

The reasoning and logic behind this is inescapable; it is a no-brainer. Not only would it provide a service that would not cost the State anything but it would save money and would provide a service that would address the needs of people who have all types of cardiac problems, specifically those who suffer from a type of cardiac arrest that requires hospital admission within 90 minutes or else they die, as was stated during a briefing. Will the Minister for Health, Deputy Varadkar, come to the House today to explain why the Government will not approve the provision of a CAT laboratory facility in Sligo General Hospital? I want him to look me straight in the eye and tell me why he will not approve it, how he can justify saying "No" and putting it on the long finger, as in the report's conclusions two years ago, and why he will not provide this service which would save lives. If one life is saved as a result of the provision of this CAT laboratory facility, then it would be worthwhile.