A local health campaign group has called on the Health Minister, Mike Nesbitt, to restore emergency general surgery at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH).

Save Our Acute Services (SOAS) has urged Mike Nesbitt to explore North-South opportunities as a means to reinstate NHS emergency general surgery at SWAH.

The appeal came after the Health Minister's comments during an Assembly debate on his department's framework document 'Hospitals - Creating a Network for Better Outcomes'.

In response to a question from Matthew O'Toole SDLP MLA, the Minister stated that South West Acute Hospital "was also built on the basis of co-operation across the border".

To a query from Deborah Erskine MLA, he indicated that "it is possible to think about imaginative ways in which to tackle those workforce challenges and not simply buy into a narrative that a rural hospital will not attract a workforce".

However, the Health Minister did not elaborate further.

Donal O'Cofaigh, SOAS spokesperson, said: "Health was one of the six areas of co-operation established under the Good Friday Agreement.

"Indeed, the North-South co-operation was a major element in the business plan which led to South West Acute Hospital being built in the first place.

"It is hard to believe now that this central border region has failed to develop any meaningful co-operation whatsoever over 20 years.

"Indeed, it has fallen behind everywhere else.

"The result is a vacuum of acute and emergency health provision across the central border area.

"Instead of services being linked up and strengthened, ambulances are not even allowed to take patients across the border except in exceptional circumstances including major incidents.

"Mr. Nesbitt's reconfiguration document fails in any way to consider the potential for North-South co-operation and linkages to sustain and restore NHS services in places like Enniskillen.

"There's no reference to the fact that addressing gaps in the availability of major trauma treatment in border areas is already a stated recommendation by the HSE in the Republic of Ireland.

"We can't afford to wait any longer while these opportunities are squandered.

"Our community cannot and will not accept being treated as second-class when it comes to emergency surgery and trauma services any longer.

"We need to see real ambition in developing the North-South potential."