The developers of a €40 million private hospital in Waterford yesterday promised it would provide radiotherapy treatment for cancer patients in the south-east when it opened in 2006.
The joint Irish-US partnership behind the 40-bed Whitfield Clinic was confident that public patients would also be able to receive radiotherapy treatment at the hospital under the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
The hospital is being developed by Irish-based healthcare company, Euro Care International, together with the University of Pittsburg Medical Centre which operates one of the largest networks of cancer physicians and healthcare specialists in the US.
Euro Care founder Dr Jim Madden said the clinic will include two linear accelerators so that cancer patients in the south-east can be treated locally rather than having to travel to Dublin or Cork for radiotherapy treatment.
Dr Madden said they planned to ensure that the widest possible range of cancer patients could receive all oncology treatments available at the clinic whether their fees were covered by medical insurance or under the National Treatment Purchase Fund.
They had met both the Minister for Health, Ms Harney, and the Minister for Transport and local TD, Mr Cullen, in Dublin yesterday.
"We . . . are fully committed to reaching an agreement with the Government that will allow public patients to enjoy the same access as medically-insured patients to treatment at our facility. Indeed our entire business model is built on that basis. We are very confident that an agreement will be reached allowing us provide open access to radiotherapy and other vital requirements to all who need them."
But the chairman of the Campaign for Radiotherapy Treatment in the south-east, Mr Dick Roche, was sceptical that the clinic's developers would be able to provide radiotherapy treatment for public cancer patients.
"We met Mary Harney as recently as last Monday week and at that stage, she hadn't even met the people behind the Whitfield Clinic and she indicated to us that her preference would be for the provision of radiotherapy treatment for patients at Waterford Regional Hospital.
"We very much agree with Ms Harney in that regard - we already have the two other modalities of treatment, surgery and chemotherapy, at WRH and we believe it would be better to have all three, including radiotherapy, under the one roof.
"It's a 40-bed hospital which is offering a range of medical procedures. We believe they will treat private patients first and that by the time they provide them with radiotherapy treatment, they will have very little capacity to cater for public patients," he said.