HSE must help victims of scandal

KEEPING information away from victims of the Cervicalcheck scandal has been a recurring theme in this vile health fiasco.

But now in a sickening twist it has emerged the physical evidence which could hold the key to getting answers is also being withheld.

Patients have the right to take their smear slides back from the labs that misread them to have them analysed by an independent expert.

Solicitor Caoimhe Haughey revealed to the Irish Mirror she is banging her head against a brick wall trying to get the HSE to dispatch one of her clients’ samples for analysis.

The clock is ticking for this seriously ill woman as she is forced to wait until the health service gets its act together.

This is a far cry from the emotional promises of support from the State when the scandal first erupted six months ago.

The spin that the Government want us to swallow is these women are sick and dying because of non-disclosure of an audit that identified the errors.

But they didn’t get cancer because they weren’t told about the review.

These women got the disease because the blunders robbed them of the chance to treat abnormal cells at the pre-cancer stage.

They are paying the price for the labs screwing-up and are being treated appallingly.

These women are sick and need to put their energy into fighting disease – not the HSE.