Patient supports surgeon’s stance
We in Ireland live in the second richest country in the world, according to the UN, and yet we are saddled with a health service that is overburdened and struggles to care for its citizens’ health.
It has been proven in the recent past that serious public health issues can be resolved by effective legislation: Mary Harney’s ban on bitumen coal and Micheál Martin’s smoking ban.
Both these pieces of legislation, introduced against strong opposition, have saved thousands of lives and have also given us a better quality of life.
How much do we really care for the health of our nation?
It’s not just a question of money... it’s far more than this. I remember the black 1950s in Cork, attending the dispensary on Grattan Street, and the attitude of some of those who doled out minimal services. Half a century later this faceless attitude still exists in the bureaucracy of our health service. Dr O’Reilly spends untold hours doing his life-saving work. Allied to this he also has to play the role of a politician to secure basic resources and equipment.
Four years ago I first encountered Dr O’Reilly and his oncology nurses. Since then I have had major surgery twice and two years of chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
The support I receive from his team, family, friends, neighbours and colleagues has helped me through this difficult period.
However, when I was diagnosed with liver cancer it was hard to be told by a surgeon at the Mater Hospital in Dublin that despite the success of operations to remove a tumour of this type, there was simply no bed available and I had to wait for six weeks for one.
Perhaps you can imagine how I and thousands of others feel every time we are told this.
Like the smoking and bitumen coal bans, there needs to be greater political willingness to provide cancer care and treatment.
This is what really matters in life.
John O’Donoghue
12 Calderwood Heights
Donnybrook
Douglas
Cork
