Breast Cancer Protest

national | consumer issues | opinion/analysis Wednesday November 21, 2007 13:04 by C Murray

It was good to hear the women sufferers talk...

A protest of Sligo and Letrim women converged on the Dail this early afternoon, with
Balloons, a pipe-band and attendant politicians (from all parties except PD's).
The Junior Minister for Health (FF) came out and addressed the crowd, some of who
were tired and upset. After a battery of 'political suits' someone had the bright idea to
put the women on the platform and the stories came out. They have said that they will
no longer travel to access treatment which they have worked and paid for.
They said they do not require a two tier health system and that indeed they have
a centre of excellence already. They spoke of leaving home and family with query
breast cancer and having to access bus, train or taxi to be there for their kids.
Largely they said 'enough'.

Sligo women will not let their unit be downgraded.

Sligo General Hospital has a mammography and cancer surgery centre which facilitates a community.
They fought long and hard for the unit and for their surgical team. They are not about to lose it because
of someone drawing a line on a map in an arbitary manner. The map came to the protest and on it
the Island of Ireland with a line drawn beneath Galway East- not one dedicated cancer care unit for the
whole North-East of the country, this effects: Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Letrim and to a lesser extent
Cavan-Monaghan where patients are going to be sent to the Beaumont in Dublin.

There is a health service action group being set up on a country wide basis, wherin grassroot
political and community action will set out to accomplish- a dedicated response to affordable
Nationla Healthcare and community need-

No-one person attending the protest requires, supports or wants a health system where public
health care is sacrificed to centre's of excellence that do not fulfill those needs and create
and sustain a two tier system. In short they want public access to quality of care on pUblic
campuses and not centres of excellence for private care available to a few.

The women spoke about having diagnosis of malignant tumour and how their treatment and
travel (as it stands) is exhausting them and taking them away from their families.
They have said that they will work to ensure that the plans for Sligo are not carried out and
that they will retain the services that they deserve.

The mainstream media will cover the political speeches but suffice it to say that all
political parties in the area with both Dail and Council reps have said that there is an
agreed political consensus on the issue- they will not let the services in Sligo be cut
due to an arbitary plan and they will force a decision at the cabinet table to retain the
service and ensure that Sligo will be the ninth centre of excellence-