SF votes no confidence in Health Minister
``Health is for sale as a commodity in Ireland today'' - Caoimhghín O Caoláin
Sinn Féin TD Caoimhghín O Caoláin supported the motion of no
confidence in the Minister for Health and Children Brian Cowen in the
Dáil last week. The vote was won by the Fianna F.il/Progressive
Democrats government by three votes and was followed at the weekend
by the announcement of £50 million for hospital facilities in
Tullamore, in the Minister's own constituency.
While the people of Brian Cowen's Laois/Offaly political base are not
begrudged the allocation, its timing can only be an act of
favouritism as the embattled minister looks to the possibility of an
early general election. Speaking in the debate on 17 February
Caoimhghín `` Caoláin said that the government was presiding over a
failed health system despite the economic boom. We carry here his
D.il contribution:
Many Members cited the tens of thousands of people on hospital
waiting lists.The figures speak for themselves, but they can never
speak as eloquently as the individual men, women and children in
desperate need of health care, who are forced to endure pain and
anxiety while waiting for attention in our public hospitals.
Let me cite the case of a young constituent of mine who has suffered
from tonsillitis for a long time. It has made life a misery for her.
Her future career prospects have been affected because she has had
to suspend her studies due to the debilitating nature of her
condition. She requires a simple straightforward operation to remove
her distress, yet she is told she must wait another year before
getting that operation.
I received a copy of a letter to another of my constituents from a
surgeon. He writes to the family doctor of this three year old
child, again describing the severe symptoms of tonsillitis, from
which she suffers. Once again a simple operation could end her and
her distraught family's ordeal, but she too must wait. At the end of
the letter the surgeon notes that he can arrange for the operation to
be done privately.
Tonsillitis is not a life-threatening condition. It does not require
hugely expensive care or complicated surgery. However, in a period
of unprecedented economic prosperity, this State cannot manage to
provide the resources to treat it promptly.
In this case we see exposed the inequality at the very heart of our
health service. Neither this Minister nor any of his predecessors
have seriously challenged this inequality. It is an absolute
obscenity that in Ireland in 1999 a person with sufficient financial
resources of their own or with sufficient borrowings can walk past
the queues in our public hospitals and receive immediate care, often
within those same institutions and from the same consultants. Health
is for sale as a commodity in Ireland today.
The debacle of Tallaght Hospital has been mentioned by many speakers.
I wish to mention briefly one aspect of it. Parents of children
suffering from leukaemia have been forced to come together to resist
the threat from the Minister for Health and Children to close down
the haematology and other units in Tallaght and move them to Crumlin
children's hospital. The Minister's handling of this issue has been
appalling. He refused to respond to the parents for three months and
only met them last week after their newly-formed campaign group CHILD
received nation-wide publicity. This group of parents is totally
disillusioned with the Minister's approach. Their anger and
disillusionment is shared by patients and staff across the health
services. They have no confidence in the Government's ability to
manage the services on which the health and well-being of their
children depends. I must concur with their judgment and support this
motion.
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