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Campaign Against Health Cuts in Mid-West Heats Up limerick |
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press release
 Thursday July 10, 2008 12:31 by Cian Prendiville - Socialist Party 086-8064801
 Come to the Public Health Forum, Tuesday 29th July, 7:45, Pery's Hotel, Glentworth St The campaign against co-location at Limerick's Regional hospital and to save St.John’s, Ennis and Nenagh A&Es is stepping up in the next days and weeks. On Thursday, 17th of July the Socialist Party will be handing in petitions they have collected against the cutbacks. If the government gets away with these cuts it will double the numbers using the Regional, endangering the lives of thousands. We have collected over 4,000 signatures against the cuts so far, and will be out on O’Connell street again this Saturday and next Thursday with a final push, before we hand them in to the HSE office on Catherine street. We want to raise awareness of the government’s plans, and help publicise an upcoming public health forum which will hopefully launch a local action group. The choice of date for lodging the complaint is significant – it is exactly one year on since the initial leak from a report for the HSE, which suggests closing Ennis, Nenagh and St.John’s casualty departments. The report is still not published yet, but it is being implemented by stealth. One quarter of the beds at St.John’s Hospital have been closed due to lack of funds, and last week another leaked memo confirmed Nenagh A&E and other services are being scaled down. The government can’t hide its plans any longer – we are demanding they promise to maintain, and improve, all services in the mid west. In addition to this, a broad based local health campaign will be launched at a public health forum in Pery’s on July 29th at 7:45pm. Titled “Stop the Cuts” the forum will be addressed by local consultant, Dr. Gerry Burke, chairperson of the Ennis Hospital Action Group, Ciaran O’Dea and Socialist Party rep and convenor of the Campaign for a Real Public Health Service (CRPHS), Michael Murphy. The health forum is a great chance to hear from those involved in the health service, and health campaigns, to learn more about the health crisis, the government’s planed health cuts in the Mid West. The meeting is open to all, and shall bring together health workers, patients and concerned citizens in a step towards launching a local grouping of the CRPHS launched at a national conference in April in Dublin’s Liberty Hall. The initial idea for the campaign came from a very succesful mass meeting in January addressed by Proffessor John Crown, Dr. Orla Hardiman of ‚ Doctors for a Better Public Health Service and Joe Higgins of the Socialist Party. From that the national conference was organised, and now we are launching local groups around the country to campaign on the local and national health issues. The Campaign for a Real Public Health Service want to turn the mass opposition to the health cuts and co-location into an active movement to defeat the cuts and the government’s health policy. With private hospitals being built in Dooradoyle, Adare and the Dock Road, and the threats to Ennis, Nenagh and St.John's we can’t wait till the next election – by then the Mid-West will have lost three public hospitals and have three new private hospitals, unless we stop it. FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: Local Organiser, Cian Prendiville: 086-8064801 National, Michael Murphy: 0876762449 National, Marie O'Connor: 0868180254
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