About 6,000 people took part in a rally in Portlaoise on Saturday to protest at the decision by the Midlands Health Board to locate a cancer centre for the midlands in Tullamore.
Consultants and doctors at Portlaoise General Hospital were supported by general practitioners in Co Laois in their claim that the centralisation of cancer treatment services in Tullamore would mean downgrading the Portlaoise hospital.
In a joint statement the doctors criticised a report by Prof Don al Hollywood which recommended siting the centre in Tullamore. One banner accused the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, of being behind the decision: "This is Cowengate and we won't stand for it." Another read: "Tullamore pirating Laois services." There were jeers when a letter sent by Mr Cowen to the Laois Hospital Action Committee was read out by Mr Michael Parsons, a member of the committee. In his letter, Mr Cowen said his sole concern was that cancer patients who required care in the midlands had facilities in their own health board region.
"The strategy to be implemented must be cost effective and in the interests of all health board patients in the region. It is important that the present situation, where 80 per cent of cancer patients are treated outside the health board region, is redressed." Local Fianna Fail TDs, Mr John Moloney and Mr Sean Flemming, and Fine Gael's Mr Charles Flanagan said they were against the proposal to move the facility to Tullamore. A vote on the proposals will be taken at a meeting of the health board meeting on Thursday.
Mr Flanagan told the crowd: "We totally reject the Hollywood report and will be voting against it and we will be trying to convince others to do so. Laois people are taking to the streets for fair play and justice. It is not a whinge or a whine but a demand for recognition."
Other speakers claimed the health board was reneging on a commitment to develop regional cancer services in Co Laois after they had been pioneered in Portlaoise by Dr Peter Naughton for over 10 years, culminating with the opening of an oncology unit by the then president, Mrs Mary Robinson, in 1994.