Mayo TD calls for Govt to use Galway clinic for breast screening

An Independent TD and doctor has called on the Government to use a new clinic in Galway to provide breast cancer screening for women in the West of Ireland.

Dr Jerry Cowley, a Mayo TD, says the unit in Galway has been made available to the Department of Health but it is not willing to put it to use.

More than 20,000 in the region have signed a petition calling for the Breast Check programme to be extended to all areas of the country.

The Minister for Health Mary Harney has promised that the services will be rolled out by 2007.

But Dr Cowley says in the meantime women are dying, while the Government has a clinic available for the service.

This follows reports that women in Donegal are opting to have their breasts removed rather than travel to Dublin for treatment.

In an article in today’s Sunday Tribune, Letterkenny-based surgeon Kevin Moran claims some women are choosing to have a breast removed instead of spending six weeks away from their families for treatment in Dublin.

Breast Check, which invites women aged between 50 and 64 for a free breast x-ray every two years, is currently only available in the East and Midlands of the country.