'People power' urged at Sligo cancer services rally

THE THOUSANDS of people who marched  in Sligo yesterday in support of local cancer services were urged to take heart from the cystic fibrosis campaign.

“People power turned that around and we believe we can do the same,” said Mary Durkin, a local nurse and Siptu trade union representative.

The rally at Sligo General Hospital heard calls from former cancer patients for a vote against the Government in the local and European elections while local medical and nursing staff also reiterated their opposition to the transfer of breast cancer services to Galway.

Tim Hanrahan, a consultant surgeon at the hospital, told the rally that the unit should remain in Sligo because it was providing a high-quality service and also because people in the region had the same right of access to healthcare.

“People say they will travel to New York for shopping or to Galway to shop but that is totally different equation,” said the consultant. He said forcing people to make a round trip of at least 170 miles when they were ill or when their families were under strain was unfair.

An estimated 2,500 people attended yesterday’s rally – considerably fewer than the 5,000 predicted by the organisers, who blamed the weather for the disappointing turnout.

Caitríona McGoldrick, a former cancer patient and member of the Save Sligo Cancer Services group, said the group would be targeting Fianna Fáil politicians in the election campaign.

“It is payback time now,” she said. “We have already distributed 40,000 leaflets urging people to vote against the Government parties and we are urging people to keep up the fight.”

Campaigner Killian McLaughlin told the crowd that Ennis hospital had been allowed to die in “an act of violence against the people of the midwest” and he urged that this not happen in Sligo. He said that while outcomes for breast cancer patients  in Sligo General had been compared favourably with results from Sloan-Kettering cancer centre in New York,  Sligo could eventually be downgraded to a county home if the cancer unit was downgraded.

The Mayor of Sligo, Cllr Veronica Cawley (Lab), said that the proposal to transfer services was “one of the worst atrocities” that could be visited on the people of the region. She said the transfer was expected to take place in about eight weeks and she urged people “to wake up and fight”.

Speaking on behalf of Siptu nursing staff, Ms Durkin said they disagreed with the proposal as they believed that a ninth centre of excellence already existed in Sligo. Ms Durkin said patients would be forced to travel from Greencastle at the tip of Donegal to Galway and she echoed Winston Churchill when telling protesters “never, never, never, never give up trying”.