Fianna Fáil TD Eugene Murphy said he is delighted that a new Dental X-Ray Machine has been procured for Merlin Park Hospital, Galway after he highlighted a scandalous situation whereby a child who was on a waiting list for almost three years for Orthodontic treatment had her appointment cancelled because of a lack of dental X-Ray facilities there.
Eugene Murphy highlighted the story earlier this month after the child from County Roscommon arrived at Merlin Park only to be informed that the X-Ray Machine had broken down.
“The child was given an appointment for November for what her family believed was to be the commencement of Orthodontic treatment. Dental x-rays are obviously specialised and it is not possible to have the x-rays carried out in a standard dental practice and the family was happy to incur the cost of these privately in order to allow the child commence her treatment. However to make matter worse when the mother contacted the Orthodontic Department this week and asked if it was possible to have x-rays carried out elsewhere privately she was told this was not possible.
“In a letter to the family the Orthodontic Department stated that “there had been ongoing problems with the x-ray equipment over the past couple of years and this machine had reached the end of its working life” and needed to be replaced. It seems that the Orthodontic Department has ceased work on new referrals in order to put pressure on management to purchase this x-ray machine and it is outrageous to make innocent children the scapegoat of such a situation and it is simply not acceptable that children from Galway, Mayo and Roscommon should be treated with an utter lack of respect,” said Eugene Murphy.
“I have received a letter from Minister Simon Harris’ office this evening to advise that a dental x-ray machine has been procured and is planned to be delivered on 21st November. Following installation and commissioning, it is expected to be operational by Friday 25th November once the clinical licence and application training have been completed. The Orthodontic Unit at Merlin Park is making contact with each patient affected by the deferred appointments and plans are in place to reschedule all affected with new dates- this is most welcome news for children and their families who have been on the waiting list for some time,” said Deputy Murphy.