Madam, - Last Tuesday I had an angiogram test on my heart and, as I am a VHI subscriber, I was able to have this done at the Blackrock Clinic. I could not have been better looked after had I been staying at the Shelbourne, but I did not realise just how privileged I was until my wife and I called in at Naas Hospital on our way home.
We went to see a member of the Army who had been waiting for a similar test for some time but had no medical insurance. He spent a sleepless Sunday night on a trolley and in desperation discharged himself the following day.
The pains in his chest returned and he went back to the hospital on Tuesday. By the time we arrived he had been sitting in a chair for 11 hours and had not even been given a cup of tea. He was told that he had abused the system and would have to wait, even for a trolley. There were several other people, some of them looking extremely ill, also sitting on chairs.
Ireland is now one of the richest countries in the world and every person with a job pays a healthy levy on top of their taxes. Yet hospitals like Naas are unable to cope with the sick. Where are we going wrong? - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL CLOWER, Ballysax, The Curragh, Co Kildare.