The Workers’ Party have described as “very serious” the discovery of hundreds of personal medical files from Cork University Hospital (formerly Cork Regional Hospital) at a landfill site near Glounthaune in East Cork.

Workers’ Party spokesman Denis O’Connor said that the discovery of the files was extremely disturbing to many thousands of people who were patients of the then Cork Regional Hospital and St. Finbarr’s Hospital in the city who now fear that their personal files are among those unearthed during works associated with the Cork-Midleton railway line.

“A large proportion of the population of the South Western region would have had contact with the hospitals in question over the 20 year period that seems to be covered by these files, either as patients or outpatients themselves or through a family member who may have since passed away.  The idea that their medical files with personal information could simply end up in landfill is appalling”, said Denis O’Connor.

Mr. O’Connor called for a thorough investigation into how such personal information could have found its way into landfill and said that statements to the effect that it happened in the distant past were no consolation to those now concerned that their files may be among those uncovered.

Thursday, 1st May 2008