Patients and consultants take case for stem cell transplant unit in Cork to Leinster House
Patients and hospital consultants - including Mags McCarthy, Senator Eileen Lynch, CUH consultant Vitaly Mykytiv, and former patients Denis O'Donovan and Noey Casey - calling for a stem cell transplant unit for Cork outside Leinster House today. Photo: Luke Brabazon
Opening a stem cell transplant unit in Cork would help patients across Ireland by relieving pressure on services, a patient- and doctor-led campaign told politicians at Leinster House on Wednesday.
They want the national transplant network to expand by re-opening a centre in Cork.
The unit closed temporarily almost 20 years ago. Now transplant patients in Munster hospitals are transferred to Galway or St James hospital in Dublin for the procedure.
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Musician Mags McCarthy started the campaign, motivated by watching her own father travel to Dublin from Cork for care.
“We’re doing a presentation to get everybody on board, and hopefully prioritise a transplant centre for Cork.
“That would help all patients as there is no stem cell transplantation in the south of Ireland now,” she said before the meeting.
Former patient Denis O’Donovan travelled from Blarney to support the campaign following his experiences in 2021.
“I had to get treated in St James so it meant commuting up and down to Dublin which is so inconvenient,” he said.
“We had to get up at 5.30am to get the 7am train to get up to get my bloods done at 9.30am.”
He only lives about 20 minutes from Cork University Hospital, he added.
Another former patient Noel Casey made three trips to Galway, including once by ambulance back to Cork.
“Your immune system is gone so you’re very isolated. It was covid time so if you got covid you were a goner. Galway were very good to us, but it’s just the travelling.”
Medical experts attending included Vitaliy Mykytiv, clinical director of diagnosis and therapeutics at CUH.
Also present was president of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation professor Ibrahim Yakoub-Agha.
The ratio between transplant centres and population numbers in Ireland is “really below the European range”, he said.
He described how two hours is the maximum travel time recommended between patients’ homes and transplant centres.
“Even two hours is a really long time because if you go to see a specialist that is four hours travelling for very tired patients,” he said.
“When we calculate in Ireland you have only one allogeneic stem cell transplant centre in Dublin. So for patients from the south of Ireland the distance is something like three hours. It’s a red flag because it’s a very long distance.”
Prof. Yakoub-Agha also said medical students at University College Cork should be exposed to the most advanced treatments available.
The meeting was arranged by Fine Gael senator Eileen Lynch.
“There’s over 2,400 people here in Ireland diagnosed with a blood cancer, but currently you can only have a stem cell transplant in Galway and Dublin while you can get pre-care and aftercare in CUH,” she said.
She called for investment through the capital budget for health in the unit.
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