‘Bertie’s Attack on Me is Regrettable’

A WORLD-RENOWNED cancer specialist has hit back at Bertie Ahern’s shock Dail attack on the medical professionals who bravely spoke out against the Government’s handling of the health system.

Consultant oncologist Professor John Crown, who was referred to in the heated debate on the ailing health service, described the Taoiseach’s personal attack on consultants as ‘regrettable’.

Prof Crown said: ‘Rather than attempt to address the substantial issues causing problems for our patients, it’s regrettable he prefers to personalise the response against those who pointed out the deficiencies.’ As fury over the breast cancer testing scandal at Cork University Hospital and the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise intensified this week, Prof Crown criticised Health Minister Mary Harney’s policies. He said that having a two-tier system which limits access and splits resources is madness because everything is duplication. ‘Two lots of X-ray departments, two lots of operating theatres. It’s insane,’ said Prof Crown, who is based at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin. He went on to refer to the system as ‘apartheid’.

Retired cardiac surgeon Dr Maurice Neligan, who is seen by many as a medical genius, joined the chorus of criticism and called for the resignation of Miss Harney and HSE chief Professor Brendan Drumm as the number of botched breast cancer tests continued to rise.

He said they were so ‘disconnected from reality it’s virtually unbelievable’.

But when Labour leader Eamon Gilmore quoted the consultants in a Dail debate on breast cancer testing scandals on Wednesday, Mr Ahern launched into an attack on consultants’ salaries.

His response was that ‘the vast majority earn far in excess of what I do, in terms of salary’.

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