South-east cancer patients cite political betrayal
CANCER campaigners have vowed to stage an angry protest when Transport Minister Martin Cullen lays the foundation stone for a private radiotherapy clinic in Waterford on Friday.
The campaigners are furious about of Minister Cullen’s assertion that there is no difference between private and public radiotherapy treatment and plan to vent their anger when he turns up at the site of the private Whitfield Clinic on the Cork Road in Waterford this Friday for the sod-turning ceremony.
The Hollywood Report on cancer care proposed muti-disciplinary care for patients, with surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy all provided under the one roof. The Cancer Care Alliance says they cannot understand why a government minister should now be so actively promoting a private facility which will not include all three disciplines.
“The credibility of the whole Hollywood Report has been called into question with the explosion in the number of private hospitals offering radiotherapy which have come on stream,” said cancer campaigner, Jane Bailey. “Radiotherapy will be provided in no less than six sites in Dublin under current plans. Yet they are talking about closing down St Luke’s.
“It is only common sense that in the south-east, radiotherapy should be provided at Waterford Regional Hospital where we have the other two disciplines. What is being provided by Euro Care
International at this site in Waterford is not in the best interest of cancer patients. All the expert opinion shows that you get 20% better results when you provide all three disciplines in one site,” she said.
But local TD and Minister, Martin Cullen, says it does not matter who provides the service for Waterford and the south-east and that the bottom line is that from June of next year, radiotherapy will be available in Waterford.
Speaking on WLR FM yesterday, he said that what is being proposed is good news for Waterford. “From June next year all patients, be they public or private, will be entitled to have radiotherapy treatment in Waterford. I’ve a letter from the University of Pittsburg Medical Centre saying they will treat all patients, public and private, regardless of economic status.
“They are a not-for-profit organisation and the facility will be made available to all from June 2006. Are people going to tell me that if radiotherapy is available here in Waterford that people are going to want to go to Dublin?” he said.
It has been a long, torturous road for campaigners.
Their campaign kicked off in earnest on Daffodil Day 2002 when they held a silent protest at Waterford Institute of Technology as the Taoiseach visited the city. Unfortunately, the Taoiseach’s car was rocked from side to side by an element in crowd which the campaigners claimed were not associated with their protest. On that day, the Taoiseach promised he would do something for Waterford.
In April of the same year, Martin Cullen said he would get radiotherapy in the south-east. The Progressive Democrats also committed themselves to the matter and said it would be dealt with urgently.
Cancer campaigners marched on the Dáil in March of 2003 and in April of the same year, Waterford Council of Trade Unions organised two demonstrations. Anger spilled over when in May 2003, Health Minister Micheál Martin cancelled a meeting with the group. And in the run-up to the local election in June 2004 , 20,000 people gathered in Waterford for a demonstration.
In January of this year, the campaigners met with the and Minister for Health Mary Harney. She insisted her door was still ajar on the proposal that multi-disciplinary cancer care could be provided as close as possible to the people of the south-east.
As late as last week, the Tánaiste declined to comment on the proposal mooted by consultants in Waterford that radiotherapy could also be provided at a private wing on the Waterford Regional Hospital site.
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