Around 35 women excluded on age grounds from the compensation scheme for victims of Dr Michael Neary are to be provided with ex-gratia awards, Health Minister James Reilly has announced.

The Minister said he hoped this would start what would be a road to closure for these women 'who suffered so much through no fault of their own'.

"The consequences these women suffered as a result of being patients of Dr Neary were appalling and insult was added to injury by their exclusion from the redress scheme."

Michael Neary was struck off the medical register in 2003. A independent inquiry found in 2006 that he had carried out 129 hysterectomies out of a total of 188 peripartum hysterectomies performed at our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda between 1974 and 1998, when most obstetricians would carry out less than 10 of these procedures in their whole career.

The Minister also gave credit to the support group Patient Focus, which had worked tirelessly for these women to ensure that their needs were taken into account.

The Scheme, which will be administered by the State Claims Agency, commences on November 12. Payments will vary from €40,000 to €100,000 in each case. Around 200 women have already been compensated under a separate redress scheme.

The new Lourdes Hospital Payment Scheme will cover former patients of Michael Neary who underwent a bilateral oophorectomy, or removal of a remaining single functioning ovary, performed when a patient was aged 40 years or over, which rendered her immediately menopausal and which was medically unwarranted.

Details and application forms for the new scheme are available from:
Lourdes Hospital Payment Scheme
Treasury Building
Grand Canal Street
Dublin 2.
Tel: 01 - 238 4370
Email: lourdespaymentscheme@ntma.ie