`Elation' in west at announcement

CROI, the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation, has expressed "elation" at yesterday's announcement confirming a new cardiac surgery unit for Galway.

The voluntary foundation, which was set up in 1985 to provide investigation facilities for suspected cardiac cases in the west, said the Minister for Health's announcement had "enormous implications" for the area. Some 400 people on the cardiac waiting list in this catchment area would now be given equal treatment to those living on the eastern seaboard, when the new unit is set up at University College Hospital Galway, (UCHG), Mr Neil Johnson, the foundation's chief executive, said.

Minister of State for Health Mr Frank Fahey said he would be pushing for the facility to be in place within two years.

Since Croi was initiated, it has raised some £3 million, one third of which went towards providing angiography facilities at UCHG. Two years ago, the foundation raised money for half the capital cost of a coronary care ambulance, with the balance provided by the Western Health Board. It has also given support to research and the provision of specialist equipment at WHB ambulance bases and Castlebar Hospital in Co Mayo, and has provided assistance for GPs on Achill and the Aran islands.

A cardiac surgery unit was "our ultimate dream", Mr Johnson said. When the previous government had opted for a new unit at St James's Hospital in Dublin, the organisation was "devastated", he said, but it had received a commitment from the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, and Mr Fahey during the last election campaign.