Deferment of new Radiotherapy Unit at Altnagelvin
Fighting wars is costly. Regrettably, the price in blood continues to be paid by the brave members of our Armed Forces. In addition, the price in treasury has become exorbitant. A recent study, for instance, reveals that fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has cost the British taxpayer more than £20billion since the 9/11 Twin Towers attack. Amazingly, this massive expenditure excludes pay and allowances for service personnel. Moreover, it does not include long-term injuries and mental health costs associated with armed conflict and is on top of a £35billion Defence Budget.
Surely a country that can afford to go to war can afford to look after the health and physical well-being of its citizens wherever they are located or is the lure of conflict so seductive that world leaders are prepared to allocate vast sums of taxpayers money to yet another war that will greedily absorb millions of pounds?
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdIf a British Government considers it moral to take on the burden of caring for the oppressed people of Libya, that same British Government must of necessity enable a post-election NI Executive to quickly redress the Health Budget deficit. This would effectively ensure that cancer patients in the Derry/Londonderry and Donegal catchment area, would no longer have to endure the arduous and lengthy journey to either Belfast or Dublin but would have easy access to high quality specialist medical care, which they so rightly deserve and to have this delivered, without any further delay, in Northern Ireland’s second city.