An organiser of the campaign to retain a full-time GP in Swanlibar said the group were successful because of a "massive community effort". Last Wednesday, Dr Cristian who has been the locum GP in Swanlibar for the past three years, was interviewed for the job and, received word on Friday that he was successful.
Despite advertising a full-time GP position in Swanlibar, in December, the HSE did not renew Doctor Cristian's three-month rolling contract. Swanlibar has lost many services including its bank, post office, and garda station in recent years. Serena Power from the Swanlibar Development Association said losing their full-time GP was "a matter of life and death" for the people in the area who weren't prepared to let it happen.
Following a public campaign which included a meeting with the Health Minister in the D ail, the HSE re-advertised the position and a doctor has been re-instated on a full-time basis. Serena said people of Swanlibar, Templemore, Glangevlin and Curlough are celebrating the result of their "massive community effort": "It's been unbelievable," Serena said, "We got word on Friday that Dr Cristian got the job and we put it up on our Facebook page and we have a number of difference WhatsApp groups like the GAA and local primary school group and I put it up on those and the amount of messages and support and congratulations we have received has just been phenomenal. It's just been a tremendous effort. There's no one person that could take the praise for any of this: it was a huge community effort."
