A chara, - The closure of three major hospitals in the south-east inner city area last June has had a devastating effect on the health care infrastructure in this part of the city. The Adelaide, Meath and National Children's Hospitals provided vital services for this area for a great number of years and their closure will lead to immense hardship on top of fear for many members of the community. These hospitals have now joined Sir Patrick Dun's and the Mercer, which were closed some 20 years ago.
Parents of young children will now be required to travel to Tallaght Hospital for accident and emergency treatment for children who may be suffering life-threatening conditions such as meningitis, where early administration of antibiotics is essential to prevent long-term damage or even death. Meanwhile elderly patients have been disadvantaged by the closure of clinics relatively close to their homes. Relatives visiting in-patients have further distances to travel and for some the option of visiting relatives or friends in hospital may be closed off.
These closures took place to help offset the cost of the provision of the new Tallaght Hospital. Sinn Fein have campaigned long and hard for a hospital in Tallaght to service the needs of a population in excess of that of Limerick city, but Tallaght's gain should not be at the expense of the people of the south inner city. The closures are a result of financial considerations and are not justified in terms of health care provision, particularly when, for the first time since the 1960s, the population of inner city Dublin is actually increasing. Some centralisation of services to provide benefits of scale is justified but what the Department of Health is doing is cynically part-financing hospital facilities needed by the people of Tallaght by depriving the south inner city of much used resources.
The Boards of Management are in the process of selling the hospital buildings and adjoining sites at the present time. Sinn Fein is realistic enough to accept that these hospitals cannot now be reopened to provide the level of service they did formerly. The sell-off of these hospital facilities is nothing short of a disgrace. There are many health care issues crying out to be addressed in this area. Sinn Fein is proposing that one of the hospital premises be retained for health care use under the control of the Eastern Health Board to provide paediatric accident and emergency facilities, geriatric clinics and drug counselling sessions. In the meantime the Department of Health should put on hold the disposal by tender of all three properties. - Is mise, Daithi Doolan,
Public Representative, Sinn Fein, Dublin South-East Inner City, Pearse St, Dublin 2.