Irish Examiner view: Delays in fertility treatment stressful when time is of the essence
Private Meet Couples Clinics Fertility Are Opting Public Some For Pa Who For Picture: Funding Criteria
Already, however, there are issues with the scheme. As reported here, couples are facing long delays in getting a consultation to go through State-funded fertility treatment, with figures provided to this newspaper showing that some have to wait nine months.
There are six fertility hubs — three in Dublin — with those attending the Rotunda Hospital facing a nine-month wait to see consultants.
Cork University Maternity Hospital said it has a maximum wait time of six months, while the Nenagh Hospital hub was unable to provide a wait time for the full process.
This situation has some of the classic markers of a HSE problem. The waiting times for an appointment differ greatly between the hubs, which suggests that one’s chances of seeing a consultant depend on one’s location; the ‘postcode lottery’ in effect when it comes to healthcare, something underlined by the presence of half of the fertility hubs in the capital.
The fact that at least one hub is unable to provide a specific waiting time is another indictment of the level of service, as is the fact that concerns were expressed last year about the adequacy of the scheme’s funding.
The classic HSE reaction was seen when stating it was working with the hubs to resolve issues such as recruitment challenges. Given the organisation’s difficulties with recruitment across the board, this is hardly reassuring.
These delays are obviously unsatisfactory for users, with the added stress that time is a perennial issue in fertility treatment.
The National Infertility Support and Information Group has stated that couples have been left frustrated by the situation to the extent that some who meet the criteria for public funding are choosing to go to a private clinic.
If this does not show the need for this scheme to be streamlined and improved, nothing will.
This week, Kursk has a different connotation, as it is the area of Russia which Ukraine has invaded, taking the offensive in the conflict between the two countries. It is the first time Russian territory has been invaded since the Second World War. Even if the incursion is a temporary one, it has
already resulted in thousands of Russians being evacuated from the region.
It is also a blow to the standing of Russian president Vladimir Putin, two and a half years after Russia invaded Ukraine. The conflict may appear to have been bogged down in a stalemate, but if Ukraine maintains the capacity to launch an incursion into Russia, then can Putin be said to have the upper hand?
The Kursk incursion should also be viewed alongside the recent release of journalist Evan Gershkovich, which was seen as a boost for US president Joe Biden.
What does this mean for Putin’s view of US-American relations, or his view of his old ally Donald Trump’s chances of winning the presidential election?
Before musing on what these events mean, it may be more appropriate to see the Russian response to events in Kursk. That may tell us more about Putin’s intentions than speculation about US elections.
In that flood of statistics from Gaza, there are still stories with the power to shock.
This week we learned of Mohamed Abuel-Qomasan, who registered the births of his four-day-old twins in Deir al-Balah. While he was doing so, an Israeli airstrike hit his home, killing his twins, their mother, and their grandmother. The magnitude of his loss is hard to imagine — a man returning from having his children officially recognised to find his family obliterated.
Another consequence of this shocking death toll has been the terrible challenges of burial. With overflowing morgues and graveyards in Gaza, bereaved families are faced with gruesome choices, with reports of some laying loved ones to rest in back gardens and car parks, along roads, and even under staircases.
There are also the bodies lost to massive explosions or buried under tons of masonry. These bodies may never be accounted for properly, let alone buried with due ceremony.
Reports suggest that there may be over 10,000 people unaccounted for in this way, and these figures do not include the wounded and homeless. The health ministry in Gaza has stated that Israel’s offensive has wounded 92,401 people and displaced over 85% of the population.
The effect of such barbarity on those experiencing it in real time can hardly be guessed at, but an entire generation in Gaza is clearly being brutalised almost beyond belief.
Israel’s motivation for inflicting such death and destruction on this narrow strip of land may initially have been revenge for the October 7 attacks, but the scale of its retaliation has long been sickening in its indiscriminate savagery.