COMMENT: Question on Mayo University Hospital Covid deaths should be answered
A TOTAL of 171 Covid deaths have occurred in Mayo since the outbreak of the virus last February.
That’s according to the latest report published by the Central Statistics Office on March 26.
The median age of those who lost their lives was 83 in a county which has recorded 6,072 confirmed cases to date.
The extent of detail and information relating to Covid-19 that’s freely available to the public is exceptional.
In the circumstances it is difficult to fathom why the HSE cannot reveal the number of Covid deaths that occurred at Mayo University Hospital.
The HSE says the reason it cannot give the details is because it is ‘complicated’. Which, to be fair, begs a question in regard to what exactly these complications are.
The elected representative who posed the question is not, however, taking no for an answer.
Councillor Michael Kilcoyne has called on Mayo’s Oireachtas representatives to help him put an end to the charade by obtaining the information from the Minister for Health.
These types of cat and mouse games, involving the HSE and those in a position to ask the executive questions, do little to inspire public confidence in the organisation.
If it cannot answer a question in full because of genuine reasons, then explain precisely what those reasons are rather than creating something that looks like a smokescreen.
The reason why Councillor Kilcoyne is so persistent in the matter is because he wants to establish if the number of deaths at the centre may have been lower if better facilities and higher staff numbers were in place.
If some of the deaths were as a result of shortcomings then there is a responsibility for those who lost their lives to ensure those shortcomings are addressed and the same mistakes are not made in respect of other patients.
Surely this is one of the underlying principles of good health care provision.
It is understandable perhaps that the HSE does not want to reopen the debate over the cross-contamination controversy that occurred at the hospital last year because it was such an embarrassing episode - and particularly so after staff spoke out on the national airwaves about it.
But Councillor Kilcoyne, to his credit, has been fighting a campaign for years to stem downgrading of the hospital and seek badly-needed investment in the facility where the staff do a remarkable job.
So, in this instance, he is not trying to bring further embarrassment on anybody.
While he has never said it himself, the issues exposed at the Castlebar centre during the pandemic have vindicated his consistent statements, some of which were dismissed over the years by higher placed elected colleagues who should have known better.
The HSE should do itself a favour by recognising the genuine motives of Kilcoyne’s crusade and help create the pathway to the investment Mayo University Hospital badly craves.