THERE WERE heated exchanges when the Taoiseach accused the Fine Gael leader of politicising medical misdiagnoses in the northeast.
Brian Cowen said "there is a sufficient level of public anxiety without inflaming the issue or misrepresenting it to gain political effect".
Earlier, Enda Kenny said that despite the fact there were more than 100,000 people working in the HSE, notifying patients was outsourced to a company.
"Some patients received part of their correspondence, while some received their own correspondence and correspondence for other people. Letters were sent to persons who were deceased, which is absolutely scandalous and upsetting for their families."
As Fine Gael deputies demanded that the Taoiseach withdraw his remarks, Mr Cowen said: "I acknowledge people's legitimate anxieties, but there is a difference in this instance in that we are applying a precautionary principle to a large number of files.
"It is wrong to suggest that an inherent danger of a possible misdiagnosis attaches to them all."
Mr Kenny referred to the case of Anne Kealy, who was told she had pneumonia when she went for a CT scan in March 2007.
"When she was still unwell five weeks later, her family demanded a new scan. That scan showed that Anne Kealy had cancer in her kidney, lungs and brain."
Mr Kenny said Ms Kealy had received two letters last week, with the warning that if she was not the addressee, "we very much regret any distress this letter may cause you and your family". Ms Kealy had died in August 2007, he said.
Meanwhile, Minister for Health Mary Harney said the plan for eight centres of excellence for cancer treatment was devised by 23 people who drew on the best expertise in Ireland and internationally. She said women treated in specialist centres in Dublin had a survival rate that was 25 per cent better than women treated elsewhere in the State.
"Unfortunately, the women in the west of Ireland have the poorest survival rates. It means that where four women in a Dublin centre will survive, only three women will survive having been treated elsewhere."
She was speaking during a FG-Labour private members' motion calling on the Government to proceed immediately with the provision of centres of excellence.
Satellite units would be provided at Letterkenny hospital, Donegal, and at Mayo and Sligo general hospitals under the responsibility of the Galway centre of excellence.
Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly said his party supported the concept of centres of excellence in the same way as he would have subscribed to the concept of the HSE. But the setting up of the HSE was a disaster. Dr Reilly said the Government had failed to bite the bullet on HSE redundancies, "and now Irish patients are dying and choking on that self-same bullet today".
Labour spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan said her party fully supported the establishment of centres of excellence, but those who had recommended eight centres were not infallible. "It is a matter of fact that previous reports suggested 11 centres was the right number."
The House will vote on the motion tonight.
