Waterford must wait for cancer services, says Martin

FULL cancer facilities will be developed in Waterford, but not until complete services have been rolled out in Dublin, Cork and Galway, Health Minister Mícheál Martin said.

Massive resources are being pumped into caring for cancer patients in the three hubs identified as centres of excellence in a Government report, Mr Martin said.

“We are going to develop satellite services in the south east, the mid-west and other areas. It is Government policy. The issue is timing,” Mr Martin said.

“We had to get the Galway centre up and running first, then get machines into Cork and get things underway in Dublin. That is what we are doing,” he said in a local radio interview.

But experts who have supported the campaign for cancer services in the south east and elsewhere believe it could mean a wait of up to 10 years for Waterford. Cancer Care Alliance spokesman, Dr Jerry Cowley, said it is too long to wait.

Everyone must be treated equally and must have access to radiotherapy services on the grounds of need, not where they live, the Mayo TD said.

“There has to be a unit in Waterford, Limerick and Letterkenny, full stop,” he said.

“It’s very difficult to see how the model being proposed will improve the situation for people living away from the major centres.

“It’s all right for the people in Dublin, Cork and Galway. The people in between are suffering. The structure proposed by Government is too elaborate, too expensive and the money would be better spent on machinery and managing people closer to their home,” he said.

A number of private hospitals with radiotherapy services have been given the green light in Waterford. But none have received guarantees from the Government that public patients will be treated there.

The developers behind the hospitals, meanwhile, say it would not be normal practice for such talks to take place, before work on the buildings began.