Harney gets the message
Issued : Wednesday 16 June, 2010
Labour’s Senate Health spokeswoman Phil Prendergast has heralded the delivery of a petition calling for the retention of acute services at South Tipperary General Hospital.
"Minister Harney’s office informed me that she does not normally accept petitions. However she agreed to take the 70,000 signatures collected by the Save Our Acute Hospital Service Committee.
"I think the message is getting through to the minister that the people of South Tipperary will not tolerate the dismantling of our hospital services.
"I told her that this petition is only one part of our strategy to maintain services at South Tipperary General Hospital.
"The Government has imposed a recruitment embargo and the HSE is failing to recruit junior doctors. This is undermines services throughout the country including STGH.
"The Labour Party will continue to oppose these tactics and expose any such underhand attempt to downgrade our hospital.
"We have already seen this happen with the closure of 11 beds just last week. And there will be more bad news to come unless all Oireachtas members in South Tipp unite to force the Minister’s hand.
"If she has any regard for her Fianna Fail colleagues then she will recognise that STGH is an excellent hospital. Running it down would make no sense.
"If she cannot see this she will be effectively ending their political careers but voters around here will not forgive them if our hospital is downgraded."
