Thousands of people will take to the streets in protest if the accident and emergency department of Portlaoise hospital does not receive equal treatment with Tullamore and Mullingar hospitals, a voluntary group has warned.
Mr Dick Sides, chairman of Friends of the Hospital, said people were "up in arms" at a recommendation by Comhairle na nOspidéal that five A&E consultants be appointed to Tullamore and Mullingar hospitals but none to Portlaoise. The comhairle regulates the number and type of hospital consultant appointments.
It recommended that a regional emergency department be established at Tullamore hospital and that one of the consultants have a "sessional commitment" to Portlaoise for 15 hours a week.
Mr Sides said Friends of the Hospital would be very vocal in opposing this and had a campaign of protest "lined up, ready for action".
The group is working in conjunction with Laois General Hospital Action Committee to retain and improve A&E services in Portlaoise.
Following strong opposition to the plan from some Midland Health Board members, the board agreed that a deputation would seek a meeting with the Minister for Health as soon as possible.
The five Laois-based politicians on the health board had expressed concern at the recommendations when they were raised at the last board meeting.
Health board members raised the subject of the new A&E department being built at the hospital as part of a €30 million development plan. Ms Kathleen O'Brien, joint chairwoman of the Laois General Hospital Action Committee said the consultant proposal was "very unfair" to the people of Laois. "We have two prisons here and the town's population must be over 12,000," she said. "Geographically, we are at a crossroads of Ireland. We need a full-time consultant, we are only asking for one consultant out of five."
She said her main worry was that if the A&E service was reduced, a loss of other services would follow. "We have to hold on to what we have and add to it. We have an excellent hospital - one of the best in the country - and we want to keep it."
She said it did not make sense to make such a major investment in the hospital and then decide not to allocate the necessary staff.
Mr Sides said: "People power will win out." He said it was not good enough to rely on facilities at Tullamore hospital as it took three-quarters of an hour to get from one hospital to the other.
"If there was a major accident what would we do? What would we do if an accident happened 20 miles on the other side of Portlaoise? It's a crazy set-up."
He said "tens of thousands" of people came onto the streets in support of both groups' hospital campaigns in the past.
"If this doesn't go our way, we will be back on the streets and we will rally more people now because they will realise how bad it is," he said.
"All we want is our fair share. We're not going to let this go. We're not going away."