Campaign against shift of services intensifies

CAMPAIGNERS OPPOSED to the transfer of breast cancer services from Sligo General Hospital (SGH) will intensify their campaign in the coming weeks in a bid to show the Government that “we are not going away”.

The battle is being taken to the Fianna Fáil annual conference in Galway next month while a further protest will be held outside Leinster House on the day the Dáil resumes, which is expected to be September 25th.

Campaigners are also gearing up for a visit to Brussels in September where they hope to lobby MEPs who are members of the European Parliament’s petitions committee. A submission is being made to the petitions committee suggesting that the HSE proposals to locate services in a number of designated centres amounts to discrimination against those who are being forced to travel.

Killian McLoughlin of the Save Sligo’s Cancer Services group said the campaign was being intensified. “We want to show that we will not be going away and that we will not stop making the case for the retention of services in Sligo,” he said.

Mr McLaughlin added that “medically and morally” they were fighting for a just cause.

Last Wednesday a number of cancer survivors from the northwest held a rally outside University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), the hospital which is due to cater for patients from the region once the transfer takes place.

They carried posters saying: “Today we are visiting – but 7,000 of us could be back next year. Sligo’s fight is Galway’s fight too.”

Mr McLaughlin said they wanted to make the point that while staff in the Galway hospital were already battling against limited resources, the Government’s proposals could see an extra 12,000 patients travelling there every year.

He said it had been estimated that more than 7,000 patients from Sligo and 5,000 from Mayo would be attending UCHG each year for diagnosis.

One Donegal woman who was attending the hospital for radiotherapy last Wednesday briefly joined the protesters while other former patients who were treated at SGH took part.

A number of campaigners have vowed to stand against Fianna Fáil candidates in the northwest in next year’s local elections if the proposed move is not reversed.

Cancer survivor Lily McMorrow from Co Sligo said she was not a politician and did not want to stand but would be prepared to do so because she felt so strongly about the issue.

Medical experts in the region including the oncologist and breast surgeon at Sligo General Hospital are preparing a report outlining why they believe the services should remain in Sligo.

Campaigners intend to cycle from Sligo to Dublin in the coming weeks with the medical report which they intend to deliver to the offices of Health Minister Mary Harney, HSE chief executive Brendan Drumm and National Cancer Strategy boss Prof Tom Keane.