Divers suffering from the "bends" may have to be flown to Britain for treatment if the decompression chamber in Galway is not modernised, a hospital consultant has warned.
Dr Noel Flynn, a consultant at University College Hospital, Galway (UCHG), said he had been appealing to the Department of Health since 1994 for funding to develop the facility, with no success. He had also sought support from the Departments of the Marine and Natural Resources, and Tourism, to no avail.
The hyperbaric chamber in Galway is the State's only public decompression service for divers, and has been run with support from the Western Health Board since 1976.
Dr Flynn said that a full chamber could benefit patients suffering from a variety of other conditions, including carbon monoxide poisoning, gas gangrene infections, osteomyelitis, radiotherapy burns and diabetic ulcers.
The chamber is largely a voluntary service, run with technical assistance from the Galway Sub-Aqua Club (GSAC), while medical cover has been provided by Dr Flynn and the late Dr Peter O'Beirn of Galway.
"Our chamber is old, the members of the GSAC and myself are not getting any younger," Dr Flynn told the Western Health Board this week.
"Under the present conditions, we can only provide an emergency service," he said. "The deteriorating condition of the chamber will soon force its closure," Dr Flynn warned.
As a second chamber at Craigavon, Co Armagh, was also likely to close, this could leave the country without any public decompression service, he said.
A third chamber at Haulbowline, Cork, is for use by Naval Service divers only and is often at sea.
Divers might have to be brought to Britain "at great expense and detriment to their care", Dr Flynn said, as flying would worsen their condition.
Specifications for a new chamber are ready for tender, and a site on UCHG grounds should be identified and reserved for the new service, he said.
Dr Sheelah Ryan, chief executive officer of the WHB, said the hyperbaric chamber was an essential and important service, and the board fully supported the proposal.
A sum of £8 million had been earmarked for general capital needs last year, and the chamber was "high" on the list of priorities.
However, procedures for procurement could not be completed within the timescale for returning receipts to the Department of Health and Children.
A decision on purchase had to be deferred, but remained a priority and would be included as a capital cost in the health board's proposal to develop it, Dr Ryan said.
