The Mid Western Health Board yesterday gave the green light for the development of a radiotherapy unit for the region.
Board members gave their unanimous approval authorising chief executive Mr Stiofán de Búrca to grant a licence to the Mid West Hospital Development Trust to develop a radiotherapy unit on the grounds of Limerick's Mid-Western Regional Hospital.
In order to allow the trust enter a contract with the Mater Private Hospital to provide a service to public and private patients, health board members also authorised the granting of a licence to the Mater Private to operate the proposed facility at the Limerick site.
Health Board member Cllr Richard Butler (FG) said that the decision by the board "was a victory for people power", while Cllr Pat Daly (FF) said that the provision of the service in the region will spare a lot of people the hardship of the journey to Dublin for treatment.
Cllr Kevin Sheahan (FF) said the provision of the facility would allow the soon to be abolished health board "go out in a blaze of glory".
The proposal has been made possible with the Mid West Hospital Development Trust offering €6.4 million towards the cost of the radiotherapy unit, while the Mater Private in Dublin has agreed to be the service provider with full responsibility for operational costs. The trust is to also meet the costs of providing care for the unit's public patients.
The chairman of the trust, Mr Louis Craven, said he was delighted with the decision and the project can now go out to tender. "We expect work to commence on the project in late-spring, early summer. It will take 18 months to two years to complete."
The granting of the licence follows a report at the health board's previous meeting showing that almost two-thirds of cancer patients in the region who need radiotherapy treatment are not receiving it because the service is not available locally.
The director of public health, Dr Kevin Kelleher, told the January meeting that just 40 per cent of cancer patients who need radiotherapy treatment are receiving it. An estimated 1,500 new cases of cancer are diagnosed each year in the mid-west region with 750 of these cases requiring radiotherapy treatment.
