State spent ‘six times more on sports bodies than developing cancer services’
Sporting organisations got €161m while only €23.5m went to the development of cancer care services in 2002, Dr Cowley told the Dáil.
He accused the Government of deciding whether people live or die and he claimed there is a health apartheid operating here based on geography.“There is no radiotherapy unit in Waterford or Limerick and the €100m radiotherapy unit due to be completed in Galway this autumn has not yet got sanction for staffing,” Dr Cowley said.
The South Eastern Health Board spent €28.2m over 12 years on transport and accommodation costs for radiotherapy patients, Dr Crowley estimated. He said it would have cost that amount to provide the service locally.
Calling on Health Minister Micheál Martin to publish the new report on radiotherapy services, Dr Cowley claimed it is recommending that both Limerick and Waterford do not get new radiotherapy units. He also said 195 women had died because the BreastCheck scheme was not set up in the South and West, adding that women still have to wait 28 weeks to get results of their cervical smear tests.
However, Mr Martin staunchly defended the Government’s cancer treatment services in the Dáil. Since the National Cancer Strategy was launched seven years ago a cumulative figure of over €400m was spent on developing cancer services which included the recruitment of 80 cancer specialists, Mr Martin said.
He rejected opposition claims that a health apartheid existed and said €139m had been spent on expanding radiotherapy services in Dublin, Galway and Cork.The minister’s spokeswoman would not comment on claims that Expert Review Group on Radiotherapy Services recommends that there should be no new units in Waterford or Limerick.
She said the minister had not yet received the report, but talks are ongoing between the Department and the Western Health Board about providing staff for the new Galway radiotherapy unit.
The minister told the Dáil the Government could not provide a proper cancer treatment service across 30 hospitals and it was best provided in a limited number of hospitals on a regional basis.
