The last child born in Dublin’s Mount Carmel hospital has been introduced to the public.
Leona Lambe was born to Martina Ryan and Thomas Lambe in the hospital at 12.24pm last Friday.
Her birth brings to an end an unbroken status as a maternity hospital for Mount Carmel since 1949. At an average of 1,200 a year, an estimated 78,000 babies have been born in the private hospital.
Leona was delivered by caesarean section and weighed 6lb 5oz (2.86kgs).
Her first-time parents were bemused by all the press attention which comes from being the last child born in the hospital.
The proud mother said she felt extremely sad for the staff in the hospital who were now to lose their jobs after it went into liquidation . “It is extremely sad for what they are going through, all the staff at the moment,” she said.
“You’d never know by them that they were going through this absolutely insecure times in their lives. I’m lost for words about how overwhelming and hospitable they have been,” she said. “You feel like you’ve known them for years.”
Liquidators were appointed to the hospital by the High Court on January 24th. It had been opened in 1949 by the Little Company of Mary Sisters and was bought by developer Gerry Conlan in 2006 for €50 million.
Mr Conlan's financial difficulties brought loans associated with Mount Carmel into the remit of the National Asset Management Agency in 2010, which endeavoured to support the institution until confidence returned to the property and private healthcare markets.
In January last year Nama appointed Goodbody Stockbrokers to sell Mount Carmel and it was put on the market in April. Despite a reasonable level of interest however, no buyer was secured. Last weekend the High Court appointed RSM Farrell Grant Sparks weras Joint Provisional Liquidators.
Though known primarily for its private maternity services, Mount Carmel also provided paediatric surgical care, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, endoscopy, urology, ENT, plastic surgery, dental care, dermatology, vascular and pain management services.
Over the past week long-stay patients have been transferred to other hospitals while maternity patients have been redirected mainly to the Coombe maternity hospital’s private facilities, though other maternity hospitals have said they will be available to accommodate pregnant women who had been due to give birth at Mount Carmel.
