€8.6m cancer unit treats first patient
The unit has been built after a long battle which resulted in a government u-turn on the location of radiotherapy services outside of Dublin, Cork and Galway.
The capital cost has been provided by the charity Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust.
The trust will also provide a further €8m in running costs over the next five years.
However, as the unit prepares to treat it’s first patient today, confusion continues about who will pay for public patients.
Health Minister Mary Harney indicated that the Health Service Executive would pay for public patient treatment.
The Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust reached agreement with the Mater Private Hospital to run the unit.
A spokesperson said: “We are still a charity. Fund raising will have to continue, but hopefully the government and the HSE will soon be funding them [public patients].”
Ms Harney said all patients, public and private will have to have access and resources would have to be made available to make that happen. But she shifted that funding responsibility to the HSE.
A spokesman for HSE Mid-West said yesterday: “The question of payment for the treatment of public patients is primarily a matter between the Mater Private and the Mid-Western Hospitals Development Trust. The payment issue in the long term is being looked at in the context of the estimates for 2006.”
Labour front bench spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan TD last night called on the government to state clearly if public patients would be paid for by the Exchequer.
The opening of the radiotherapy unit will be of benefit to patients in the mid-west who have had to spend up to six weeks in Dublin, Galway or Cork for treatments which last only a few minutes a day.
When fully operational it will treat up to 35 patients.
