Proper health service needed
Dear Sir,
WHAT is our task? To make Britain a fit country for heroes to live in. I am not using the word ‘ heroes’ in any spirit of boastfulness, but in the spirit of humble recognition of fact. I cannot think what these men have gone through. There are millions of men who will come back. Let us make this a land fit for such men to live in. There is no time to lose. I want us to take advantage of this new spirit. Don’t let us waste this victory merely in ringing joybells” Lloyd George 24 November 1918.
While the Welsh Wizard may not be our favourite British Prime Minister his words should be listened to today. We are in the midst of a worldwide Covid war. Today’s enemy is Covid 19. Who knows how many other viruses are lurking out there looking for a host.
The men of World War 1 returned as heroes, unemployment and poverty to raise a new generation who would fight and die in Europe and the Far East.
We have our heroes today. Some are in the Medical Profession battling on the front line, risking their lives to save others. Others are to be found among the Gardai,
Fire Service, Carers, Shop workers, Banks, the Post Office, Volunteers and Refuse Collectors and more.
When the present battle is won will we have a Health Service fit for the country? When the call went out in 1914 and 1939 for men to step up to the plate and fight that others might be free to live happy healthy lives recruiting offices were full. When the call went out for medical personnel to treat the sick many returned from abroad, retired medical professionals donned their uniforms and returned to the hospitals.
The DI is a family newspaper so I must suppress my natural inclinations to describe Deputy Gerald Nash’s call for a financial bonus for medical workers, to be paid around the May Bank Holiday. What about the June, August, October holidays. While I’m sure a bonus would be appreciated I am of a mind that Nurses etc. would prefer to see a properly funded, fit for purpose Health Service. Paying a bonus is akin to a pat on the head for a child. Here is a lollipop now let us get back to as we where. Waiting lists, patients on trolleys, overworked and underpaid, taking into consideration that they are highly qualified professionals. Deputy Nash’s suggestion, in my view, is insulting. It is almost as if he was expecting an election. What is needed is not lollipops and a pat on the head. He can claim that Labour is not part of the Government. While this is true there is an opportunity for them to help form one or would he prefer to moan and groan from the lofty heights of the Backbenches. We have enough hurlers on the ditch in politics.
Before I sign off let me ask Deputies, Nash, O’Dowd, Munster, Fitzpatrick and O’Murchu are they accepting their over generous expenses, vouched or unvouched while sitting at home or their local offices. Are Councillors refusing their salaries and expenses while so many have lost their jobs, some will be permanent losses.
I don’t speak for our frontline defenders of the Nations Health, however I am sure that when this battle is over they would prefer a proper fit for purpose Health Service. Let that be their reward. Proper pay, conditions and real respect not lollipops.