A CONTROVERSIAL government decision to out-source testing for cervical examinations has caused a stir on doorsteps in the Adare area.
Cllr Leo Walsh found the topic was regularly raised during his campaign trail for re-election to Limerick County Council, with many unhappy with the decision to send Irish cervical smear tests to American company, Quest Diagnostics.
He said: “The short-sighted deal, which has been avidly opposed by the Irish Medical Laboratory Scientists Association (MLSA) and by the wider medical community as a whole, has been contracted by the Irish Government to Quest Diagnostics, thereby removing this vital and necessary service from Irish Public Laboratories and from the country as a whole, quite literally selling them to a private company.
“In the process they are laying the foundations for a private monopoly of this service and in time ridding Ireland of the capability to do this type of screening itself”.
New Jersey based Quest Diagnostics was initially hired by the HSE two years ago to clear a six- month backlog of Irish pap and smear tests following the introduction of the free national screening programme, but are now the sole source used for cervical test analysis.
Cllr Walsh, who is campaigning for election to the Adare electoral area, adds: “If there are problems with these results, we will no longer have the skills and knowledge to offer any alternative service in this country.
“It is true that the service provided here had to improve as there were delays in getting results back to patients.
However, several laboratories were accredited and several others were in the process of being accredited. The service could have gained from being more centralised, with two possible centres of excellence; one in Dublin, and perhaps, one in Limerick”.
Cllr Walsh alleged that the MLSA does not believe that the awarding of the contract to Quest Diagnostics was carried out in an open and transparent manner.
“I now think that it is of paramount importance to stress to people at both a local and national level that for the welfare and health of our female population who have to undergo cervical screening, the vital need for this service to be maintained in Ireland,” he concluded.
