Limerick TD declares breast cancer services ‘a time-bomb’
Deputy Kieran O’Donnell of Limerick East said the failure to roll out BreastCheck was “a time-bomb” in his constituency and accused Health Minister Mary Harney of complacency.
“At present all vital routine mammography screening services have been withdrawn by the HSE in the Limerick area due to lack of resources in the breast clinic at the Limerick Regional Hospital. Minister Harney admitted during the debate that when the service was recently suspended, the waiting list for this service was a disgraceful two years,” he said.
Since early March, he said this clinic is only providing symptomatic mammography, with routine screening mammography now falling under the auspices of BreastCheck.
“However, BreastCheck does not exist for the women of Limerick and the mid-west and the health minister in her reply to me in the Dáil recently shockingly gave no indication as to when it will be put in place. I am calling for the immediate roll-out of Breast-Check in the Limerick area to provide a free mammogram service to women. Limerick city will shortly be the only city that does not have BreastCheck in place. As such, the women of Limerick are being completely discriminated against and their lives put at risk.”
Mr O’Donnell said Ms Harney confirmed that the number of Limerick women in this age group almost 13,000.
“Research shows that for every 1,000 mammogram tests carried out, 5.3 prove to be breast cancer,” he said.
“With rumours that BreastCheck will not be rolled out in Limerick for up to two years time, this could give rise to women in Limerick missing up to two mammogram tests. Consequently, this could result in up to 70 breast cancers being missed every two years and, depending on how long before BreastCheck is rolled out, a much higher figure could arise.
“Considering that breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer in women, there is no excuse for the delay in the rolling out of BreastCheck in Limerick. Alarmingly, one in twelve Irish women gets breast cancer, with a death rate of 36% — the 4th highest of 25 developed counties.”
