Ned O'Keeffe
Question:175 Mr. N. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Health and Children the proposals he has to deal with the large number of patients awaiting heart and lung transplants. [17413/01]
Written Answers. - Heart and Lung Transplants.
The programme for Government, An Action Programme for the Millennium, contains a specific commitment to support the establishment of a heart and lung transplant facility in Ireland.
An expert consultative group which was established to advise my Department on the development of the programme submitted its draft report on 31 May 2001. The report has been sent for external peer review to the Freeman Hospital, Newcastle and to Wytenshaw Hospital, Manchester.
The Mater Hospital, Dublin, has been designated as the surgical site for the programme. The provision of a transplant unit forms part of a major capital development at the Mater Hospital under the national development plan.
Pending the establishment of an Irish based programme, an agreement has been entered into with the Freeman Hospital for the treatment of Irish patients requiring a lung or heart and lung transplant. Thirteen transplants have been performed on Irish patients at the Freeman Hospital since 1 April 1999. One hundred and eighteen persons have been referred for assessment and three are actively awaiting admission for transplant subject to donor availability and matching.
I am committed to ensuring that the Irish programme when introduced will be in a position to match the highest international standards in lung and heart-lung transplantation.