A new €60 million private sports clinic is to open in Santry, Dublin next year, it was announced yesterday.
The clinic will have the capacity to diagnose sports injuries using MRI and CT scanning equipment and will then be able to offer patients surgery or rehabilitation, depending on their needs.
Ray Moran, an orthopaedic surgeon at Beaumont and Cappagh hospitals, will be its medical director. He said the clinic would expect to see up to 7,000 patients in its first year of operation. It anticipates doing up to 3,000 operations a year. The patients will include athletes and individuals who have injured themselves exercising.
"There isn't really anything similar in the country. To the best of my knowledge there isn't anything similar in the UK either, but most Australian cities would have equivalents," Dr Moran said.
The Sports Surgery Clinic will have four operating theatres, 10 consulting suites, 37 inpatient beds, 21 day beds and 14 recovery beds. Its board of directors include Dr Moran, Michael Kinsella, Kevin Moran, Conor O'Brien, Niall O'Carroll and John Saunders. The chief executive will be Fergus Clarke.