Wheelchair users were among 100 protesters who gathered outside Mayo General Hospital yesterday to highlight their concerns over cutbacks in the subsidised transport services for outpatients.
Patients who have had a free transport service said they are now being denied hospital transportation. Those affected include transplant recipients and cancer patients.
Yesterday's protest action in Castlebar was jointly organised by Mayo Fine Gael TD Michael Ring and Michael Kilcoyne, an independent member of Castlebar Town Council. Mr Kilcoyne is chairman of the Consumers Association of Ireland.
Both men were joined on the protest line by wheelchair users, elderly and sick patients affected by the cutbacks, together with Government deputies and county and town councillors.
Deputy Ring hand delivered a letter to the deputy chief ambulance officer, HSE West, Paddy Duffy, demanding that "the HSE restore the ambulance transport service to what it was three years ago in the county".
He warned that "the action, was just the first in a series of actions that will be taken, if the HSE fail to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable in our society".
In response to the protest, a spokesperson for the HSE West informed both public representatives that it would like to meet them both in the near future.
Councillor Kilcoyne said they were delighted with the response. "We will travel to Naas next week to meet representatives of the HSE on this matter and we will be taking a strong line on this issue," he stated.
One of those on the protest line yesterday was Shauna, a 14-year-old whose need for subsidised transport stems from the fact that she suffers from junior arthritis and, in addition, contracted MRSA while hospitalised in Mayo General, some years ago.
Shauna and her mother have to travel to Belfast for an annual hospital appointment. They had benefited from the subsidised transport service in the past, but earlier this month were told they no longer qualified and had to travel to Belfast at their own expense and inconvenience .
"I'm delighted that so many people are taking a stance, putting their foot down and saying enough is enough," Shauna told reporters.