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Donal O'Regan, 8 Jul
THE MID-WEST Hospital Campaign (MWHC) has announced that it will be
represented in the next general election by activist Melanie
Sheehan Cleary in the Limerick City constituency.
Melanie is a mother-of-six children, including Eve Cleary who died in
2019 hours after she was discharged from University Hospital Limerick.
Earlier this year Eve’s family settled a High Court action over her
death with the HSE and UHL who expressed “sincere condolences and deep
regret”.
The campaign is still considering its options on whether to run
candidates in the Clare and Tipperary constituencies.
A spokesperson for MWHC in Limerick, Charlotte Keane said: “We have
tried protests, lobbying our public reps, petitions to Oireachtas
committees – but it’s clear that the vested interests behind the
decision to downgrade our A&Es in 2009 still hold sway. The politicians
aren’t listening to us. To this day, still not one elected TD in
Limerick city supports the re-opening of Ennis, Nenagh and St John’s
A&Es.
“We warned them in February of 2020 at our protest outside St John’s
Hospital that we would come to Dublin if they didn’t re-open our A&Es.
This is us following up on that pledge.”
Speaking after her selection as the Mid-West Hospital Campaign general
election candidate, Melanie said she was never political or active in
this way before Eve died.
"I thought that her death would be the catalyst for change, but nothing
happened afterwards. Instead, more families have had to suffer as we
did.
“Eve spent 17 hours on a trolley in UHL’s emergency department after
she hurt herself slipping and falling on a footpath. A few hours after
she was eventually admitted to a ward, she was discharged and told to
go home and rest. Less than four hours later she suffered a cardiac
arrest, caused by a blood clot that had travelled into her lung. Eve
was just 21.
“I have written to everyone since Eve died – including the previous
minister for health, and current Taoiseach – but nobody seems to want
to act. Sometimes you wonder if this was happening in Dublin and not in
Limerick, would it be allowed to continue?" said Melanie.
She said Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have "clearly committed to a path
which in effect means the undermining of our public health system".
"We always understood that it would take a lot of effort to force them
into a U-turn, and we were prepared to put that work in. Unfortunately,
it seems that Sinn FĂ©in have committed to not rocking the boat on
issues such as this in case it might present a barrier to coalition
with one of those parties after an election.
“We say that the evidence is overwhelming for the urgent need to
restore emergency services in the Mid-West. We do not accept that there
is any clinical argument that justifies the piling up of people on
trolleys in UHL and any further delay will cost lives.”
READ MORE: Barristers to hold protest in Limerick as they strike for a
second time over pay
The Garryowen native who is now living in Corbally went on to say that
people might dismiss this as a single-issue campaign, but "we will make
no apology for making every effort to put this crisis at the top of the
national agenda".
"We have been ignored for far too long! We will have other positions
that we will put forward, but the main thing I’d say is we are not
going to accept the re-opening of our A&Es at the expense of any other
community. We are not for robbing Peter to pay Paul.
“We are demanding a restoration of services here and will support
others fighting for the same. That goes for the nurses fighting for pay
restoration and the ambulance workers who are looking for union
recognition. We think the health workers on the frontline are absolute
heroes and deserve to be treated as such by the government.
“The health service’s workforce is very diverse and we oppose any
attempt to sow division between communities. Anyone looking to get
involved with our campaign will agree to a pledge that they also oppose
racism and division.”