Emergency screening needed in south, west

Breast care: The lives of over 200 women could be lost if some emergency interim breast screening is not introduced now in advance of BreastCheck in the south and west of the country, according to Independent Mayo TD, Dr Jerry Cowley.

Dr Cowley said he was still calling on Mary Harney to immediately introduce screening though the National Treatment Purchase Fund (NTPF).

While Dr Cowley welcomed the decision by Galway City Council to grant planning permission for the BreastCheck unit at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG), he said 260 lives would be lost unless Minister for Health and Children Ms Harney introduced an interim screening measure.

"At least 396 women have already died since 2000 in the west and south, and another 260 will die before they are screened. Why does the Government not do something?" he asked.

Dr Cowley said the Government should use the NTPF to purchase a breast screening service from the Galway Clinic while they were waiting for BreastCheck to commence.

The BreastCheck screening unit and symptomatic breast care facility at UCHG will serve almost 58,000 women between the ages of 50 and 64 in counties Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Tipperary North, Sligo, Clare and Donegal. The facility is now on track to be operating by 2007.

With cancer the second most-common cause of death for women in Ireland, Senator Margaret Cox is also calling on Minister Harney to introduce an interim solution.

Ms Cox said this service should comprise a free GP visit, mammography referral and mammogram.