Mid-West cancer unit to open in weeks

THE new radiotherapy unit at the Mid-West Regional Hospital will begin to treat cancer patients within the next eight weeks, it was learned yesterday.

Consultant oncologist Prof Rajnish K Gupta confirmed that the construction of the €8.5 million radiotherapy unit has been completed.

A senior hospital source said they are now gearing up for an earlier start and the first patients may commence treatment by late September or October.

The radiotherapy unit has been funded by the Mid-Western Hospitals Trust and will be operated by the Mater Private Hospital. Health Minister Mary Harney last month announced government support for the Limerick radiotherapy unit and said it would operate as a satellite of the existing radiotherapy unit in Galway.

Work on the Limerick unit only commenced last September and the final fine-tuning of the high-tech laser accelerators is being carried out by a team of experts. The Mid-West Hospital Trust has pledged to open the new Limerick unit to public as well as private patients.

But it is not yet clear if the cost of treating public patients will now be picked up by the Department of Health following the Tánaiste’s announcement.

Prof Gupta said that he was delighted at the progress with the new radiotherapy unit at the Dooradoyle hospital campus. However, he said there were some matters to be ironed out with regard to the Limerick unit’s relationship with Galway.

While the vast majority of Mid-West patients will be treated at the new Limerick unit, a small percentage will need the more specialist treatment available in the longer established units in Dublin, Cork and Galway.

“The Minister’s announcement suggested that Limerick should be linked to Galway. But I think all these matters are open to discussion. One could argue that a link between Limerick and Dublin might be better. I think these matters need to be ironed out,” Prof Gupta said.

He said the links between Limerick and either Dublin or Galway were necessary to provide the widest possible expertise in treating patients. Prof Gupta said children needing radiotherapy would still have to attend a specialist paediatric radiotherapy unit in Dublin.

“Up to 95% of all patients in the Mid-West needing radiotherapy treatment will be catered for by the new Limerick unit. There will be some patients who will need to travel to outside radiotherapy units, sometimes abroad for the type of radiotherapy treatment they need,” he said.

He said the commissioning work being finalised at the new unit was crucial.

“This process has to be absolute and you just cannot get it wrong.”