Joy in Lahardane with medical centre back up and running
Official opening of new GP surgery to take place this morning
THE official opening of the new GP surgery in Lahardane will take place this morning (Friday), with local people now encouraged to transfer back to surgery to give it a viable future.
New GP, Dr Amjed Ahmed, moved into the surgery in the north Mayo village on February 15 and a push is now on locally to transfer patients back to the Lahardane practice.
The north Mayo community had been left without a GP service since last October after Dr Enda Loftus who was the GP since 2020 left to take up a vacant GP position in Crossmolina.
There were fears in the community that the surgery would be closed forever after the Lahardane GMS (General Medical Services) number, which includes approximately 1,100 medical card holders, was also transferred to the Crossmolina surgery.
However, after months of campaigning and negotiations between the HSE and local campaigners, an agreement was reached with Dr Ahmed to move into the vacant surgery on a full-time basis.
A native of Iraq, Dr Ahmed lives in Castlebar with his wife and children and is medically trained in Ireland and is an Irish citizen.
Prior to taking up the GP position in Lahardane, he worked in various medical centres around Mayo including in Crossmolina, Castlebar and Ballinrobe as well as Mayo University Hospital.
Campaign
THE official opening of the new Nephin Medical Centre will take place this morning at 10.30am and Gerry Loftus, who campaigned for its retention, has urged local people to transfer back to the village GP.
“Dr Ahmed is over the moon to be working in an area like Lahardane and people locally are excited that this long campaign has been brought to a successful ending.
“I cannot stress how much of a relief it is because of the amount of time put into it. We are so relieved it is over the line and to have a doctor and to have the surgery open and up and running. The job left to do is to rebuild the practice in Lahardane. Dr Ahmed is here for the long haul and we have to ensure he has enough patients for a liveable wage. If need be we will go outside the area and advertise that there are vacancies on the panel in Lahardane but I don't expect that we will.
“We said we would do what had to be done to get a doctor back to Lahardane and now we will do what has to be done to make sure we get the panel to a sustainable level for him. There are 400 people back on the panel already and I expect a huge amount to go back on in the coming weeks,” he commented.