Madam, – I heartily endorse the passionate words of Rita Ann Higgins (Home News, July 23rd), when she denounces “the fundamental inhumanity” of the overcrowded hospital system in Galway.
A couple of months ago at the University College Hospital here, I had a post-operation check-up for cancerous tumours. I was told that some of them were still to be removed and that this would be done in two or three weeks. I have since been kept waiting, at the end of a telephone, for a vacant bed. For a week the relevant ward in the “overcrowded” institution was actually closed down because of the cutbacks. Today I am told that not only will the ward be closed for another week in honour of Galway Races, but it will also be closed for the week after that, again because of cutbacks.
If I were a racehorse and broke a leg at Ballybrit, at least they would shoot me humanely and speedily. – Yours, etc,