asked the Minister for Health if it is proposed to provide a hospital for the populous district of Ballyfermot, Dublin; how soon it is estimated that this hospital will be supplied; and whether he will sympathetically examine the possibility of providing a cottage hospital to service the area in the meantime.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Ballyfermot (Dublin) Hospital.
155.
The reorganisation of the services provided by the Federated Dublin Voluntary Hospitals involves the building of a general hospital in the Ballyfermot area to which I have agreed. This, however, is a major undertaking and, as it is still in the preliminary stage of planning, it is not yet possible to give a firm estimate as to when the hospital will be available to admit patients. In terms of the hospital needs of the people of the area, a cottage hospital would serve a very minor function and I do not propose to provide such a hospital. Advances in medicine require that the modern general hospital should have a range of specialist staff and elaborate and expensive apparatus. This can only be provided in a large hospital unit.
As the Deputy is aware, the country's largest fever hospital is situated beside Ballyfermot.