THE Irish Cancer Society has strongly criticised the Government’s decision to proceed with a new Donegal–Dublin Public Service Obligation (PSO) air service, which will leave cancer patients in the Northwest region cut adrift.
Edel Shovlin, Acting CEO of the Irish Cancer Society and Donegal native, said the hidden cost of cancer for patients and their families can have a crippling effect.
“For patients in the North-West region in particular, who have been underserved when it comes to infrastructure investment, this is even more acute. Travel and accommodation costs are additional burdens borne for hundreds of cancer patients every year, on top of the physical and emotional toll of a cancer diagnosis.”
She added: “The Donegal Cancer Flights are a lifeline, not a luxury. The flights themselves compensate for a lack of investment in health care infrastructure in the region. Patients shouldn’t have to rely on air travel to get life-saving treatment that should be delivered locally, but that is the reality facing these patients. Given the lack of investment in the North-West region, it is shameful that these flights are being messed around with for airline profit at the expense of already burdened patients, who risk having to fork out for extortionate overnight stays in Dublin hotels. We once again reiterate our calls for a whole of Government response to this matter to reinstate the previous flight schedule.”
