€1 million lifesaving scanner lies idle in hospital

A LIFESAVING machine which cost €1 million has been lying idle in a Cork hospital for the last three months, because nobody has been appointed to operate it.

It’s the second piece of high-tech medical equipment gathering dust because of a shortage of funding or staff. Another CT scanner has been sitting in storage in its original packaging for the past three months and is surrounded by hampers of hospital laundry and cleaning equipment at the Louth County Hospital in Dundalk.

The Irish Examiner has learnt the CT scanner arrived at Mallow General Hospital just before Christmas, nearly three years after it was promised by then Minister for Health, Micheál Martin and it could take several weeks, if not months, before it becomes fully operational.