Latest news with #LUH
RTÉ News
4 days ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
Donegal doctors seek meeting over surgical hub decision
More than 170 doctors based in Donegal have sent a joint letter to the Minister for Health demanding an urgent meeting over the HSE's plans to overlook Letterkenny as the location for a planned surgical hub in the north west. Concerned consultants and senior doctors at Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH), as well as GPs across Donegal, sought the meeting with Jennifer Carroll MacNeill to address what they describe as a "critical threat to patient care and health equality in the north west". Regional HSE management has identified a site in Sligo as the sole preferred option for a new surgical hub in the region - a decision Donegal-based clinicians have called "flawed, unjustified, and deeply damaging". Dr Padraig McGuinness, who is a GP based on the Fanad Peninsula, said the decision to overlook LUH "ignores both population need and geographic logic". "Many of our patients would face round trips of five hours or more to access elective surgical care in Sligo. That's unacceptable and dangerous," Dr Mc Guinness said. The clinicians' letter, seen by RTÉ News, said they "are ready to present data showing that LUH is a more appropriate and equitable location". They said if LUH were chosen as the base, "no patient from Donegal, Sligo, or Leitrim would be more than 90 minutes from a surgical hub". The clinicians referenced the Department of Health's aims to ensure equitable access to elective care across the country by developing surgical hubs. They said: "To bypass LUH in this decision would be to disregard this equity objective and perpetuate health inequality on a profound scale". The clinicians letter said the National Cancer Registry Ireland report showed Donegal had the highest deprivation index and a higher incidence and a later presentation of all cancers, with a significantly poorer five-year survival. Consultant in Intensive Care and Anaesthetics at LUH Dr Louise Moran said: "Patients in Donegal already face some of the worst cancer survival rates in the country due to late presentation and access issues. "To bypass Letterkenny again is not only medically indefensible - it's a direct hit on patient safety and regional equality". The clinicians are seeking an urgent meeting with Minister MacNeill as well as an independent review of the HSE's rationale for selecting SUH over LUH and a moratorium on a final decision regarding the hub's location until "an evidence-based comparison is completed". A spokesperson for the minister told RTÉ News she has not received the business case from the HSE for the location of the surgical hub for the north west. The spokesperson said Minister Carroll MacNeill thanked the team at Letterkenny University Hospital for taking the time to speak with her during visit last month and she looks forward to engaging with them again in the coming weeks. What is the HSE surgical hubs strategy? Over the next two years, the HSE plans to open six surgical hubs nationwide to reduce patient waiting times. A surgical hub will consist of four theatres with capacity to deliver 10,000-day case procedures and 18,500 outpatient consultations annually. The first surgical hub officially opened in south Dublin under the governance of St James's Hospital in February. Within the next two years the HSE plans to open five further surgical hubs in north Dublin, Galway, Cork Waterford and Limerick. It is hoped hospitals will have greater capacity for patients who require emergency and complex care when day case procedures are treated in the surgical hubs. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to explore the provision of an additional surgical hub in the north west. In a statement, the HSE West and North West said it has prepared a business case supporting the implementation of a North West Surgical Hub. Within that business case a greenfield site owned by the HSE in Sligo has been identified as a potential development location for a hub. A feasibility and master planning study will also be undertaken if the business case is approved. Last month, consultants at Sligo University Hospital told RTÉ News the hospital's orthopaedic operating theatre was no longer fit for purpose and patient safety was being compromised following leakages which disrupted the provision surgery. After cutting the sod on a planned 42-bed unit at SUH, the Minister for Health said the issued simply had "to be resolved". At the time, HSE Regional Executive Officer Tony Canavan said they had "prepared a proposal to develop a surgical hub for the northwest, based in Sligo". Ambulatory Centre planned for Letterkenny A spokesperson for HSE West and North West said that LUH requires a stand-alone facility which provides a greater level of services. They said an Ambulatory (non-inpatient) Centre is planned for LUH that would include "all the additional surgical capacity being provided by the proposed surgical hubs being created elsewhere, such as theatres and treatment rooms for day surgery treatments". "the Ambulatory Centre would also provide additional functionality and capacity to meet the needs of County Donegal in the form of additional ambulatory cancer capacity as well as additional diagnostic facilities". The HSE said the hospital is currently working with HSE Capital & Estates to develop a business case for this development. They added LUH will be making every effort to secure funding and to progress it "in as expedient a manner as possible". Fear proposal 'being used to deflect' In their letter to the Minister for Health, Donegal-based clinicians said while any investment in LUH is welcome, they felt the ambulatory centre proposal "lacks the ring-fenced funding, defined scope, staffing allocations, and delivery timeline associated with the surgical hub model". They fear the ambulatory care centre proposal was "being used to deflect from the pressing need for LUH to be considered equitably in the current surgical hub decision". LUH Consultant General Surgeon Mr Michael Sugrue said they need real surgical infrastructure was required in Letterkenny - "not vague promises". Mr Sugrue said without adequate surgical resources they cannot attract or retain the consultants needed. "This decision risks the future of general surgery in Donegal and the long-term viability of LUH as a Model 3 hospital," he added. The clinicians' letter to the Minister for Health urged her to await the findings of Mr Michael Sugrue's forthcoming Letterkenny University Hospital Model 3 Clinical Care Report and Plan. They said the report would further support their position including statistics detailed funding disparities between LUH and other hospitals. Calls for equitable access to elective care The clinicians' letter said LUH has the "longest waiting times when compared to other model 3 hospitals". The clinicians previously wrote to the minister on 28 April regarding the future of surgical services at Letterkenny University Hospital. In the letter sent to Minister Carroll MacNeill yesterday, the clinicians said a delegation remains available to meet in Donegal or Dublin. They reiterated call for equitable access to elective care for all. Dr McGuinness said the matter "isn't just about a building or a budget line".
Time of India
14-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Kendrapada MP test flies HAL's light utility chopper
1 2 3 Kendrapada: BJP national vice-president and Kendrapada MP Baijayant Panda on Monday conducted a test flight of the indigenously developed Light Utility Helicopter (LUH) at the HAL facility in who chairs the committee on public undertakings (COPU) and holds a private pilot's licence for both aircraft and helicopters, praised the scientists and engineers at HAL for their achievement in indigenous aerospace manufacturing ."It was a special privilege to take the controls of HAL's prototype LUH," said Panda. "LUH is one of the finest examples of Atmanirbhar Bharat . I'm proud to experience first-hand the commitment, passion and skills of the people driving Make in India at the Maharatna PSU."The LUH, designed and developed by HAL's Rotary Wing Research and Design Centre (RWR&DC), is intended for both civilian and military applications. The project represents a significant milestone in India's push toward self-reliance in defence his visit, Panda also reviewed various facilities at the HAL complex in Bengaluru.
RTÉ News
02-05-2025
- Health
- RTÉ News
Donegal cancer campaigners hold 'positive' meeting with minister
Campaigners for improved cancer care services in Co Donegal have said they held "a positive meeting" with Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill in Letterkenny. Three protests calling for improved cancer care services were held at Letterkenny University Hospital in the last six weeks. Cancer survivor Roseena Doherty Toner, who was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia in 2021, presented Minister MacNeill with 1,200 signatures she collected at two of the three protests in support of their campaign. The mother-of-five from Clonmany in Inishowen said that while hospital staff are "absolutely amazing", she believes LUH does not have the facilities needed to accommodate the area. "It was a positive meeting [with the minister]. We are going to have to wait and see now and hope for the best". "We in the northwest are 250 kilometres from University Hospital Galway. It is too far for a cancer patient to have to travel regarding any cancer treatment". Mrs Doherty Toner said a lot of services are available at LUH. However when the resources available cannot cope with demand, patients are sent to Galway. "The day I was diagnosed and sent to Galway for my treatment was the worst journey of my entire life. "Subsequent journeys were the same. You're not feeling well, you're sick, you're stopping at the side of the road to have to be sick. It's horrendous," she said. Mrs Doherty Toner said families that need to stay overnight must fork out several hundred euro for accommodation. "People in Donegal don't have that kind of money. We are not going to stop campaigning. We have fantastic staff and doctors in Letterkenny, but they're working in facilities that are not fit for purpose. We need upgraded facilities". Minister Carroll MacNeill thanked the campaigners for sharing their personal stories and said she understood the depth of feeling around the matter. "I really recognise that Donegal has experienced that at a deeper level to many other counties for lots of different reasons. It is important to acknowledge that". The Minister said the HSE and LUH management have plans to build on cancer and haematology services. Figures provided at a recent Regional Health Forum West meeting in February showed three in ten cancer patients start treatment within the target timelines at LUH. Minister Carroll MacNeill said the hospital has improved services so that people are getting chemotherapy treatment at an earlier stage.
Express Tribune
23-04-2025
- Express Tribune
Fatal road crash claims 15 lives, injures 22
Fifteen people including six children, five women and four men lost their lives while 22 sustained injuries in a tragic road accident when a Mazda mini-truck overturned on a slope apparently due to brake failure on Taung Dareji road in Thana Bula Khan, Jamshoro district. The tragedy unfolded in the wee hours of Tuesday when the labourers belonging to the Kolhi community were returning from Balochistan to their villages in Badin after completing the wheat harvest. The police and rescue officials informed that 11 of the victims had died on the spot while three succumbed to their injuries at Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad. The victims included Kaani wife of Aasan Kolhi and her four children, Vijay, Dhalu, Prakash, and Aarshi, Jugni Bheemo, Vaani Bhanu, Marva Rajesh, Dhani Haresh, Devi Balchand, and her daughter Monika, Bachu Mal, Raja Harijo, and Sooraj Mal. The deceased hailed from Digri city, Mir Murad Talpur village, and Bashir Ahmed village in Raju Khanani area of Badin. The injured included Aasan Kolhi who lost his wife and four children and Balchand who also lost his wife and a child were admitted to the LUH. Three of the patients are said to be in critical condition. Dr Lalchand Ukrani, Special Assistant to the Sindh Chief Minister on Minority Affairs, announced Rs200,000 compensation for the dead and Rs50,000 for the injured. Talking to the media in Karachi he claimed that the provincial government is trying to provide optimal treatment to the injured to ensure their early recovery.
Express Tribune
24-02-2025
- Politics
- Express Tribune
Freedom eludes anti-PPP alliance leader
As freedom from incarceration eludes Grand Democratic Alliance's leader Ghulam Murtaza Jatoi, three bails from as many courts on Monday in addition to an earlier order of Sindh High Court failed to secure his release from the jail custody. The former federal minister after his discharge from Liaquat University Hospital, Hyderabad, on Monday was sent back to Nara Jail as a civil judge and judicial magistrate of Sukkur district granted his 14-day judicial remand in a hitherto unknown case. Confusion prevailed while his discharge card was being prepared at the hospital with some sources insinuating about continuity of his imprisonment on judicial remand and others suggesting that he might be set free. He was admitted to the LUH on February 22 with complaints of chest pain. Earlier, Larkana's Additional District and Session Judge Rashid Ali Dayo granted bails to Jatoi in two separate FIRs registered at Badeh and Dokri police stations. Ahsan Hyder Shah Syed, Additional District and Session Judge in Khairpur, also approved his bail in an FIR lodged at Hingroja police station. These FIRs contain sections like 324, 353, 148, 149, 216A, 109, 506/2, 353, 224 and 402 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and 24 of Sindh Arms Act (SAA). The charges include attempt to murder, obstructing government officials from performing duty and robbery, among others. Interestingly, his remand has been given even though Sindh High Court Larkana Circuit on February 20 had barred the Sindh police from arresting Jatoi in any new case except those three cases in which he has already been taken into custody. These included the two FIRs in Larkana and one of a murder case registered at Moro police station in Noushehro Feroze district. The Anti Terrorism Court of Noushehro Feroze on February 20 had also granted bail to Jatoi in the murder case. The GDA leader's wife, Naveen Jatoi, has time and again blamed Pakistan Peoples Party's Sindh government for framing her husband in fabricated cases in order to pressurize their family. She alleged that political opposition to the PPP's leadership and agricultural lands are the obvious causes behind his arrest. "It appears that the accused isn't nominated in the FIR with specific allegation or role," reads the judicial remand order given by a civil judge and judicial magistrate of Sukkur on Monday. "However, it appears that the accused is implicated through further statements of the complainant under section 162 of CrPC." His jail custody has been approved till March 9. "It is an admitted fact that the name of the accused [Jatoi] isn't mentioned in the FIR or even in the challan," observed senior lawyer Sajjad Ahmed Chandio while talking to The Express Tribune. "And when the case is under trial then it's the prerogative of the concerned trial court to add or exempt/acquit any person as accused." He was referring to the civil judge's remand order.
