by Bernie English
PROTESTS greeted health minister Leo Vardkar as he arrived to open the new Critical Care block at the Uiniversity Hospital in Limerick this week.
The unit has been credited with saving more than 180 lives since it began operstions a year ago, according to the new hospital CEO, Professor Colette Cowan.
The protest was organised by the Anti Austerity Alliance to highlight the problem of large numbers of patients waiting on trolleys in the emergency department for admission.
The minister officially opened the new Critical Care Block. The project was funded by the Health Service Executive at a cost of €38.5million and is part of the hospitals re-development programme.
MInister Varadakar said the opening is ” a milestone on the way to better health care”.
The new Critical Care Block (CCB) includes a 12 bed intensive care unit, 16 bed high dependency unit, 16 bed acute cardiac care unit, a step down cardiac facility and a day cardiology unit. These take up 4 of the 6 floors of the block; the remaining 2 floors will house a new Dialysis Unit and the new Emergency Department, which will open in 2016.
