I am calling on the Health Service Executive to sort out orthopaedic services at Merlin Park Hospital, Galway, as a matter of extreme urgency.
The orthopaedic unit has been in crisis since a leaking roof in the operating theatre forced services to close in 2017.
Now plans to introduce a replacement modular operating theatre have collapsed.
This is a fiasco and I am very disappointed. There is a huge list of people in pain waiting for their operations and it is getting bigger and bigger.
This has been a matter of urgency for too long. It is time for action.
Consultants estimate that around 2,000 people are waiting for orthopaedic procedures at the hospital. It is completely unacceptable.