New jobs in Athlone announced by healthcare firm

Athlone is among the locations which will benefit from a jobs announcement made today (Thursday) by diagnostic healthcare firm Affidea.

The company, which has just been rebranded having previously traded as Euromedic, said it was making an investment of over €15 million in the Irish healthcare sector.

This is expected to involve the creation of 100 new jobs over the next 18 months in Athlone, Donegal, Limerick, Sligo and Tallaght.

A spokesperson for Affidea told the Westmeath Independent that the company was not yet outlining specifics about the number of jobs to be created in each location.

The new positions will be a mixture of clinical and administrative roles that are designed to allow Affidea expand its reach in Ireland.

An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, attended the jobs announcement at Affidea’s state-of-the-art Dundrum clinic today.

Affidia said that, since it began operating in Ireland in 2007, it has significantly increased the availability of diagnostic services to patients.

In 2016, Affidea expects to conduct over 160,000 MRIs and other diagnostic services for patients, of which, 47% are covered by private health insurance and 45% pay cash in order to escape long public waiting lists.

Speaking at today's event at Affidea’s Dundrum Clinic, An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny T.D. said: 'I am delighted to welcome the announcement of 100 new jobs at Affidea Ireland.

'Affidea's investment and expansion are a vote of confidence in Ireland's economy and a positive development for the primary health care sector here. The Government will continue to work to secure the recovery so that companies like Affidea can grow and create more jobs.'