Very welcome news that the tender process is under way to build the new much-needed and long-overdue orthopaedic unit at Merlin Park Hospital in Galway.
Building contractors have been invited to pre-qualilfy for the tender to build the unit.
The process of building the new unit has gone on for far too long and the delay has been a blight on the Health Service Executive.
People all over the county and region who desperately need operations such as hip replacements have suffered unnecessarily while waiting to get their procedures done.
Hopefully the start of the pre-qualification process will see tenders finalised as soon as possible. Nobody should have to wait longer than is necessary for operations.
The pre-qualification stage has a deadline of March 12. After that the building contractors that are selected will be invited to tender for construction. The completion of this unit cannot come soon enough.