HOSPITAL SHOULD BE EXTENDED AS FITTING TRIBUTE
Hospital should be extended as 'fitting tribute'
THE husband of one of the women killed in the Omagh bombing has said a fitting tribute to all those who died would be to save the Tyrone County Hospital from closure.
Mr. Laurence Rush, whose wife Libby died in her Pine Emporium shop in Market Street, said the hospital services should be extended and upgraded, not reduced.
And Omagh District Council has said it has acknowledged the "critical role" the hospital played in dealing with the immediate aftermath of the bomb.
This underscored its importance as an acute hospital, and would form part of the council's future lobbying strategy, the local authority said.
Mr. Rush said it was time to stop saving money, and start saving lives.
"My wife would not have been helped by having to drive 50 miles to the nearest hospital. The Tyrone County has to be maintained," he said.
"If it was a good idea to build a cottage hospital 50 years ago, then it is an even better one now to extend it.
"Cutbacks don't come into it. If a country can't support poor people, and injured people, and education, then what are we all working for?"
Mr. Rush has also suggested an air ambulance service for the west, and first aid training in schools.
THE husband of one of the women killed in the Omagh bombing has said a fitting tribute to all those who died would be to save the Tyrone County Hospital from closure.
Mr. Laurence Rush, whose wife Libby died in her Pine Emporium shop in Market Street, said the hospital services should be extended and upgraded, not reduced.
And Omagh District Council has said it has acknowledged the "critical role" the hospital played in dealing with the immediate aftermath of the bomb.
This underscored its importance as an acute hospital, and would form part of the council's future lobbying strategy, the local authority said.
Mr. Rush said it was time to stop saving money, and start saving lives.
"My wife would not have been helped by having to drive 50 miles to the nearest hospital. The Tyrone County has to be maintained," he said.
"If it was a good idea to build a cottage hospital 50 years ago, then it is an even better one now to extend it.
"Cutbacks don't come into it. If a country can't support poor people, and injured people, and education, then what are we all working for?"
Mr. Rush has also suggested an air ambulance service for the west, and first aid training in schools.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/0287
Published Date: 27-Aug-98
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