The Minister for Health. Mr Martin, was yesterday accused by local campaigners of creating a smokescreen in pledging 24-hour medical cover for the accident and emergency departments of Ennis and Nenagh hospitals.
The Nenagh and Ennis Hospital Action groups said the Minister's pledge to appoint physicians to staff the A&E departments in both hospitals by July was "a cynical gesture" to shield Fianna Fáil local election candidates from the wrath of voters concerned about the future of the health service.
In a joint statement, the two groups said: "The appointment of these physicians means only that medical cover will be retained at our hospitals. It falls far short of an A&E service and very far short of what we now have, which is an acute hospital with back-up consultants."
While in North Tipperary yesterday, the Minister announced the go-ahead for a €5.5 million Community Health Centre for Nenagh; turned the sod on a new €15.5 million Community Hospital for Thurles and headed up a local election strategy session with Fianna Fáil members.
The Minister accused groups opposed to the Hanly report of generating an unacceptable degree of anxiety and fear. He said the Government would not have increased staff by 100 at Nenagh Hospital over the past six years and invested in a €2 million extension and refurbishment programme if it intended downgrading the local hospital.
Mr Martin said it was the Mid-Western Health Board that came up with the solution to maintain 24-hour medical cover at A&E units at both Ennis and Nenagh. That solution had been devised within terms of the Hanly report.
The present system of having junior doctors running the overnight A&E services in hospitals was not acceptable.
The A&E services in Nenagh and Ennis would be staffed on a 24-hour basis by emergency-trained physicians and nurses with on-call consultant services. But he stressed that serious medical emergencies in Clare and North Tipperary would necessitate the transfer of patients to Limerick.
The Minister denied that the appointment of the physicians to Ennis and Nenagh was aimed at appeasing voters in the run-up to the local elections.