Hit the old where it hurts.

The older one gets the more one hopes that medical attention will be forthcoming if needed.Some politicians have made their reputations on the promise of improving local hospital services.
I have heard a harrowing story lately,which I have checked out to my own satisfaction and I am happy it is true,
One recent Sunday a local octogenarian urgently needed medical assistance.As the person's G.P.does not work on Sunday,Doctor on Call had to be called.Approximately four hours elapsed between first notification of the call and attendance on the patient in the family home.I am told this is not unusual as sometimes only one doctor is on call and is often overwhelmed .Another person informed me that if you attend the  Doctor on Call and he/she is called out on urgent business you just have to wait as long as it takes.In any event when the Doctor did call out he/she was first class and allayed the main fears of the patient.However an X Ray was needed.Navan seemingly don't do rays on weekends and the patient had to be brought by Ambulance to Drogheda.
The patient hit Drogheda at approx.6.P.M.Got a E.C.G. fairly promptly (to ensure no heart attack I assume) and lay on a trolley until 3.A.M.the next morning,when the family had to return to their respective homes.As far as they can gather the patient did not receive the X Ray until 5 or 6 A.M, later that morning.The parking fees for the stay was E.28.00
One family member  who accompanied the patient at all times from the initial call to the Doctor on Call informed me that the waiting arena in Drogheda was like Vietnam during the War  at its worst.It was totally understaffed and bedlam reigned .People in obvious pain were walking around with flapping limbs,Mothers with children with vomiting sickness were at their wit's end minding those children and maybe other children they had to bring with them because they had nobody else to mind them.Seemingly Drogheda had to deal concurrently with all emergencies in the Louth /Meath area. The family member who told me this is by no means squeamish  and swore that he never saw the likes of it.
I ran in last election mainly to highlight the fact that Navan Hospital had not until 2010 ever stocked the blood thinner that can dissolve the clots that cause stroke.I found this unbelievable and have often wondered since how many avoidable deaths and unnecessary disabilities were caused by such woeful neglect.Of course the thinner must be administered within a few hours of the stroke and only to patients who have a clot and not a bleed ,as naturally thinner would only worsen the bleed.To discern if a clot is present an X ray is necessary and A Radiologist must examine the X Ray .
Given that X Rays can not be taken in Navan on Sundays and maybe Saturdays (I am not sure ) is it a fact that things have now reverted to the pre 2010 position for weekends and presumably Bank Holidays and maybe after 6 in the evening.
If this is the case then God help anyone from the catchment area who falls seriously ill.
Now those politicians who made their reputations on the back of providing a reasonable level  health of service must surely know what gives and the Government T.D.s must deliver.
It is just not good enough to treat any person,particularly an elderly one in a fashion that if a farmer applied to an animal,would be prosecuted for cruelty.
There again this may be the secular way.
My use of medical jargon is deficient I know and some assumptions I make may be off.If they are I will gladly correct them.