Workers Solidarity Movement

IN THE FRONTLINE:The Minister for Health, Brian Cowen is refusing to appoint the senior consultant paediatrician Mary Mackey. If there is no senior consultant there will be no paediatricians. Bring your sick and injured children elsewhere.

ALSO IN THE FRONTLINE:

Children's haematology. Acting on a so-called detailed report Minister Brian Cowen has decided to allow the treatment of children's leukaemia to be run down and discontinued. The group CHILD has accused the Minister of ignoring vital information essential to the treatment of leukaemia. CHILD are now calling on Professor Fennelly, chairman of the National Cancer Forum to resign as a matter of urgency.

They were gravely upset to discover that the so-called detailed report on the situation was nothing more than a one and a half page letter, written by Professor Fennelly to the Minister for Health.

UNDER ATTACK:

According to Tallaght Hospital Action Group (THAG) the hospital is being forced virtually at gun point to carry out massive cuts and sack up to 200 people.

Tallaght Hospital serves up to 246,000 people in a catchment area including Wicklow and Kildare. THAG public relations officer Richie O'Reilly said the figure of £64m which the board of Tallaght Hospital has been forced to adopt compares very strangely with the figures for the Mater (£75m), Beaumont (£89m) and St. James (£103m). He went on to say people are going to have to get off their arses and protest. What are they going to do, wait and see if the money runs put and patients are turned out of their beds? Public meetings and protests have been organised, which included a well attended "Join Hands" at the hospital gates on February 28th.

Liam Griffin

For more info/support contact:

T.H.A.G 20 Alderwood Park, Tallaght, Dublin 24 Ph: 087-2953139

C.H.I.L.D. 77 Lower Albert Road, Glenageary, Co. Dublin, Ph: 01-2842540

This article is from Workers Solidarity No 57 published in March 1999