Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly called on Minister for Health Mary Harney to "take control" of the health service and instruct the HSE to immediately replace outdated equipment with digital scanners.
In a sharp criticism of the Minister's approach to cancer services, he said that she could "try to hang out the Midlands Regional Hospital in Portlaoise as the bad place for cancer services but the reality is that the problem is in Galway, Cork and Limerick and nothing has been done about it".
During the debate on cancer services and later in a question and answer session, the Fine Gael TD said last year the HSE wasted more than €4 million on information technology and that money could have bought 11 CT scanners for regional hospitals.
The Taoiseach had stated that the normal life of the machines used was 10 or 11 years.
"Many of those in use are older. If the Government is truly committed to healthcare and centres of excellence, there must be ring-fenced funding and we must know where it is coming from.
"It is not good enough to say a reorganisation of the health budget will achieve this. Frankly, I do not believe the Minister in this regard, nor does anybody else at this stage."
He said "people cannot wait for the Minister's nirvana of centres of excellence. We all support the concept but we deeply suspect whether they will ever happen because you have not ring-fenced funding for them".
The Dublin North GP attacked the Minister's decision to close down the service "rather than employ another competent radiologist to resume it. You cannot expect those with a breast lump, who need a mammogram tomorrow, to wait for a centre of excellence that will be created some time in the hazy future".
Labour spokeswoman Jan O'Sullivan acknowledged the Minister's apology but said the problem was that "there is no evidence of the Government taking responsibility as opposed to apologising and examining what happened". People "have lost confidence and the only people who can restore confidence are those who are charged with responsibility for policy and resources in the health services, namely, the Government, particularly the Minister for Health".
She pointed out that "someone brought attention to the age of the equipment in the hospital.
The issue was first raised by someone in Portlaoise in July 2005. The department responded but it was not adequate, otherwise what happened would not have happened." She said there was "now no public confidence in the system and that is a national crisis that must be addressed".
Ms O'Sullivan added that "women all over the country are wondering if their hospital will be the next one in the news".
Sinn Féin's health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin compared Portlaoise hospital which had out-dated equipment while "in hospitals such as Dundalk the HSE has allowed the new CT scanner to lie idle for months. This CT scanner was unveiled by the Minister in the period immediately before the general election. Where is the coherence and good management that we were promised in the brave new world of the HSE heralded by the Minister on the floor of the chamber?"
He also accused the Minister and the HSE of using the crisis in mammography "to justify their drive to overcentralise our hospital services and downgrade local hospitals".
