I thank the Chair for allowing me to raise this matter this evening. It calls on the Minister for Health to give immediate approval to the tender for the extension of St. Nessan's Orthopaedic Hospital in Croom, County Limerick. The urgency and the necessity for the provision of this badly needed extension to the Croom hospital, the provision of a second theatre suite, can be seen from the fact that active and intensive correspondence in this matter commenced as far back as 1973. Tenders were sought in 1979-80. However, the successful tenderer went into liquidation. Approval to re-advertise this matter was not forthcoming at the time. At the invitation of the Mid-Western Health Board, the Minister for Health visited Limerick in 1983. Approval to proceed to tender was subsequently obtained. Documentation and tendering procedures were carried out. A recommendation to accept a tender was sent to the Minister on 31 July 1984.
There are 120 beds at the orthopaedic hospital in Croom. The building is of 1850 vintage. The present theatre facilities place an enormous burden on the medical staff in terms of the workload and in terms of the danger of infection. It is not unreasonable to say that if approval is not forthcoming immediately, the surgeons might perhaps be loath to continue to operate in the existing conditions.
The urgency and the necessity for the provision of this extension can be seen from the fact that the waiting list as of 31 August 1984 in respect of in-patient treatment totalled 770. This comprised hip operations, 236 and other operative procedures, 534, making a total of 770 patients who require in-patient operative procedures. The waiting list in regard to out-patient facilities currently totals 1,241. It is significant to emphasise that at present there are three orthopaedic consultants at Croom hospital. Comhairle na nOspideal have recommended the appointment of a fourth orthopaedic surgeon. However, this cannot be done until the second theatre suite is provided. The complement of four orthopaedic surgeons accords with the recommendations of Comhairle na nOspideal of one surgeon for every 7,000 of the population. The population of the Mid-Western Health Board at present is 308,000.
We all welcome the tremendous developments that have taken place, especially over the past ten to 20 years, in regard to orthopaedic medicine and services. People can be relieved of great pain and hardship because of the radical change in regard to surgical treatment following the development of total hip operations. In this connection, it is interesting to put on record that in 1972 there were a mere 20 hip operations carried out at the Croom orthopaedic hospital. In 1981 there were 162 operations carried out, an eight-fold increase over a period of ten years. We all know that the number of people requiring such operations is dramatically increasing every year.
I should like to take this opportunity to place on record my appreciation of the great work that is being done by all the medical staff, the nursing staff, the paramedical staff, the catering staff and indeed all the staff of the Croom orthopaedic hospital for the great commitment and dedication which they have shown in providing an advance in medicine in the mid-western region. Those people know no lines of demarcation. They work from early morning until late at night. Some of the surgeons there are on duty for up to 16 hours a day. They work under very difficult conditions. It is for this reason that I ask the Minister for Health and the Minister of State for Health to indicate that they are prepared to give an early approval to this tender so that the Mid-Western Health Board can deal effectively with providing the services that are needed so badly by the people of this area and so that the long waiting list may be cleared.
I do not wish to speak for too long on this issue except to say that I would welcome also the support of the other Members of this House who are interested in this problem.
