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Cancer centre timeframe
"unreasonable"
21.04.08
AN INISHOWEN councillor
has called for the radiotherapy centre at
Altnagelvin Hospital to be "fast-tracked" for cancer
patients in the North West.
Cllr. Pádraig MacLochlainn said the proposed 2015
opening date for the Derry centre was "entirely
unreasonable".
"It is now almost two years since 15,000 people
marched through the streets of Letterkenny in the
pouring rain with a simple demand of equality in
cancer care for patients and their families in
Donegal and the North West," said Cllr. MacLochlainn. |
"Minister Michael
McGimpsey's announcement in recent days is a tribute
to their tenacity and fierce determination. The
trauma of living with cancer is enough for patients
and their families without the huge physical and
financial burden of travelling hundreds of miles for
treatment."
But Cllr. MacLochlainn said the Irish Government
must "seize the moment" to ensure cancer patients
and their families didn't have to wait seven years
for treatment locally.
"While the commitment to a radiation |
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unit in Altnagelvin on
a cross border basis, for the population of the
North West Region is welcome, the timeframe of 2015
is entirely unreasonable. Now is the time for the
Irish Government to seize the moment and immediately
engage with Minister McGimpsey to ensure that the
finances are put in place to fast track this
commitment.
"The people of Donegal, Derry, Tyrone, and
Fermanagh, who have suffered so much from partition
and two separate economies and administrative
systems, need to see the Good Friday Agreement
working in practice. There needs to be delivery from
the Irish Government and no where better to begin
than cancer patients and their families," added the
Buncrana-based councillor. |
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