asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether he is aware that the dispensary doctor and midwife attached to the Ballymahon district reside respectively four miles and two miles from the town of Ballymahon; and whether, in the interests of the poor of the town, he will take steps to see that the doctor and nurse will reside either in or within a reasonable distance of the town.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - RESIDENCE OF MEDICAL OFFICER.
SEAN O LAIDHIN
The dispensary medical officer of the Ballymahon Dispensary District lives at the village of Keenagh, on the main road between Ballymahon and Longford, and approximately 5½ miles from Ballymahon. He attends twice weekly in Ballymahon Dispensary, once at Keenagh, and once at Newtowncashel. Keenagh is about two miles from the centre of the district, while Ballymahon is on the extreme outskirts. There is telegraphic and telephonic communication between Ballymahon and Keenagh. The midwife lives close to Fowlard's Bridge, and about two miles from Ballymahon. Her place of residence does not inflict any undue hardship on the sick poor.
Is the Minister aware that there are over 700 people in Ballymahon dependent upon the medical aid of the doctor and the midwife, that the midwife at present resides about two miles outside the town, and that when people go there and find she is attending a case, there is no one there to tell them where she may be found? Furthermore, as poor people cannot afford to send telegrams or pay for trunk calls on the telephone, will the Minister see that better facilities are given for attendance on the poor?
Ballymahon is on the extreme outskirts of the district, and if the medical officer and the midwife were to live there they would often have to travel as far as fifteen miles to a patient, whereas where they are situated at present they have not to travel more than eight-and-a-half miles. They are centrally situated.