The plight of a terminally ill Cork cancer patient was highlighted by the Fine Gael leader during heated exchanges with the Taoiseach.
Enda Kenny said Bertie Ahern might not believe his words and might say they were purely political. He then quoted from a letter to party colleague Jim O'Keeffe from a constituent in Cork South West.
"On October 23rd my mother lay in bed at home crying with pain, and Dr O'Reilly could offer us no help as the hospital are short of beds and staff. We were forced to watch a lady, with pride and dignity, dying in front of us, due to a failing health service, and for this I am angry, hurt and lacking confidence in Mary Harney's effort at reform.
"The following day I brought her to Cork University Hospital and again she was in a waiting room from 9am until she was given a bed in what I would call appalling conditions, 11 hours later.
"This ward was a rapid-transit ward and, although these staff were outstanding, patients were subjected to a distinct smell of urine and, I believe, unhealthy conditions in general. It was three days before she was transferred to a proper ward. Rapid transit? I don't think so."
Mr Kenny said that this week four years ago, the Government had launched one of the greatest election scams of the decade, the national health strategy.
"We were promised a world-class health strategy, launched by the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the then minister for health and children, Deputy Martin."
He said they were left wondering where all the money had gone when they read the truly damning letter in the Irish Examiner to Tánaiste Mary Harney from the southern region's only consultant medical oncologist, Dr O'Reilly, who was now serving 500,000 people.
"In his letter he states that he could not get hospital care for dying cancer patients because of a lack of beds. As a result of the failure to roll out breast cancer screening services, women in the southern region need more extensive surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and hormonal therapy."
Dr O'Reilly, he said, had described how a cancer patient was left at home in pain as the only alternative was to admit her on a trolley in the A&E unit. "Previous cancer patients were put in wards surrounded by intoxicated people."
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said the issues raised by Dr O'Reilly, namely the management delivery of health, personal and social services, were the responsibility of the Health Service Executive (HSE), and it had issued a statement outlining the investment made in the service in which the doctor worked. Dr O'Reilly, he added, had a colleague who had left for another job, so he was currently working on his own.
The matters to which he had referred, Mr Ahern added, were being addressed by the management of Cork University Hospital. Since the implementation of the national cancer strategy, some €80 million cumulative additional funding had been made available to the southern region.
An additional 11 consultants and support staff were not being appointed across the region, he added. The HSE had advised that approval had been secured in recent weeks to proceed to the next phase of the development of a €47 million oncology, cardiac and renal centre, which would include a dedicated 30-bed oncology ward. It was planned to commence construction next year.
Labour leader Pat Rabbitte accused Mr Ahern of missing the point of what Mr Kenny had said and confusing the matter with national figures.
