Sarah Costello from Trim in County Meath was treated under the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, in a hospital in Belfast for endometriosis. Her surgery went horribly wrong. She had to have an emergency bypass to save her life. She had a cardiac arrest and needed 15 litres of blood. She was left disastrously injured by the operation. Today, she is in bad health and in pain. When Sarah sought help from the Mater hospital she waited for a year. She was told to go to Belfast to see her primary doctor but, of course, she has no doctor in Belfast. She was forced to go privately to a consultant in Galway at a cost to herself. Her scans show that she has an 80% blockage, that she needs a stent immediately and that if this does not happen, her life is in significant danger. She is actually in immediate danger of losing a limb. She was told to have that operation. She has to pay between €45,000 and €50,000 and cannot afford it.

The NTPF told Sarah to just switch from the waiting list in the Mater hospital to Galway. The problem is that if she simply switches waiting lists and there is not an immediate operation, she will be in trouble. I ask the Tánaiste to make sure that Sarah receives the operation she needs now. The operation happened under the NTPF and it is responsible for the operation happening. It has a responsibility now to make sure Sarah receives the necessary operation so she can survive.

This sounds like an extremely difficult and concerning case. I cannot, because I do not have information, make commitments on the floor of the Dáil in relation to people having medical procedures. I cannot do that but what I can do is ask that the transcript of what the Deputy has outlined be sent to the Minister for Health and that she would ask that the NTPF consider the Deputy's request and come back to him directly on behalf of Sarah. We are thinking of her at this difficult time.