1,000 protestors to bring hospital campaign to Dáil

The people of Meath will once again take to the streets tomorrow (Thursday) when the Save Navan Hospital campaign will hold a rally outside the Dáil at 1pm. In a bid to maintain pressure on the HSE and the government to return surgery services to the hospital and to keep the emergency department and medical services open, up to 1,000 protesters are expected to travel to Kildare Street in Dublin for the rally. Campaign chairperson, Cllr Peadar Tóibín, has issued a rallying cry to the people of Navan and Meath to attend the rally, which promises to be a colourful event. Dunderry Fair and Scurlogstown Olympiad will provide street theatre, football and hurling clubs from around the county will be there in their regalia and staff of the hospital and Tara Mines will also attend. They will be joined by members of Meath IFA and ICA, Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, Meath and District League members, members of Navan Shamrock Festival, the Meath River Rescue, active retirement groups and Arch Clubs. Buses will be available from Trim, Dunderry, Kells and Navan at 11.15am tomorrow morning. “We are asking Meath people who work in Dublin to take their lunch break off and head down to the march,†said Cllr Toibin, urging people to do their best to mobilise all their friends and family to take part. “Over the last number of years, our hospital has suffered countless cuts which have left the hospital's future in doubt. Indeed, if the cuts continue, we are in danger of having nothing more than a cottage hospital in the county. As a result of the cuts, patients are being forced to do a tour of the north-east in ambulances in search of beds. The problem has come into sharper focus this winter as the system creaks under the strain,†he claimed. “Last week, 50 patients waited on trolleys for a bed in Drogheda and over 20 were forced onto trolleys in Navan. Senior health professionals are now going on record stating that the current HSE system is extremely bad for patient safety,†he added. He pointed out that the Save Navan Hospital Campaign successfully mobilised over 10,000 people on to the streets of Navan last October and is one of the largest hospital campaigns in the country. “We need to make sure that this issue is firmly on the agenda of any incoming government. We have hired a team of solicitors who will investigate the legal avenues open to us to ensure patient safety in the county. We are also putting in place a system whereby the treatment paths of patients who are being scattered across the north-east looking for a hospital bed will be tracked. We will then scientifically compare and contrast patient outcomes in this government's current confused and dysfunctional system with a proper hospital system,†he said. Hospital campaigner Paddy Pryle said that, with a general election looming, the idea behind the Dublin protest is to remind those who are in power or those who intend to run for elected office that Meath values its old and sick and demands that the county hospital be maintained and upgraded until the the new regional hospital is built. Save Navan Hospital member Wayne Forde said he is certain that only for the huge show of strength in support of the hospital at last October's march, the emergency department in Navan would have closed by now and he urged the men, women and children of Meath to come out and show their support for the hospital again tomorrow, “The people of Meath are a very strong, proud and passionate people. “We will continue to show our support for our County Meath hospital. We in Meath deserve afully finctional hospital. It is our right and entitlement,†he said. Former Meath GAA manager, Eamonn Barry, said Meath County Board and all clubs are supporting the rally and he is encouraging all club members to turn out and support the campaign. He pointed out that hundreds, if not thousands, of footballers had been treated in the Navan hospital.