Join the new world

Dr Noel Browne was an Irish Politician and Doctor and lived through the years (20 December 1915 – 21 May 1997). Highly controversial during his time and holding a Leftist view in a Rightish world, Noel Browne’s policies helped to shape Ireland and turn it into a healthier place. His policy for eliminating TB is one of the key reasons I believe he is both a Leftish and Irish Hero.



Born in 1915 to a large family, Noel Browne’s life was tough from the start. His father was an inspector for the NSPCC and evidently caught Tuberculosis from the children he had worked with. Due to this Tb began to spread into his family and many of his family became ill. Soon after receiving the deadly disease Noel’s father succumbed and left only Noel’s mother to care for his family. Moving repeatedly over time, his mother finally found work as a house maid for a household in England and this possibly saved his life. Admitted to a prestigious school, Noel showed no signs of an interest in medicine. When his mother died as a result of Tb he began to change his mind.



Now in care from his eldest sibling, Noel watched as Tb ravaged his family, taking many of their lives. Eventually he caught it and was bed ridden for weeks. Luckily he had made an impression on a wealthy friend whose father paid for his treatment and eventually his college tuition. As a result of this Noel dedicated his life to eradicating the horrible disease from the Ireland shore. (TB had become a serious problem during the century taking a high percent of mortalities a year.) with diploma in hand and hope for the future Browne set about fixing the problem and destroying TB.



And that’s exactly what he did.



Elected to government after joined the new Irish republican party Clann na Poblachta and was elected to Dáil Éireann for the Dublin South–East constituency at the 1948 general election. On his very first day in Dáil he was immediately appointed as Minister for Health. Preparing for a long time, Noel (specialised in the area of T😎 set about using state fund to create and renovate sanatoriums. TB is an airborne virus which infects the lungs of the victim. It leads to a high amount of mucus and coughing and spitting which spreads it from person to person. This can be combated by either anti-bodies stimulated by medicines or bed rest. As sanatoriums were connected to hospitals, usually the entire hospital went under if TB virus was admitted. Browne changed this and created personalised hospitals especially for TB victims. Selling state assets to fund his project, importing medicines and setting up sanatoriums, Browne almost singlehandedly dropped TB rates by 50% in 3 years.



This is majority of the reason I nominated Browne for this post. TB was reaping through Ireland, eliminating thousands every year. The fact that the man almost eliminated TB altogether after such little time in office holds wonders to his abilities. Placed as the worst disease to hit Ireland in a long period of time, its elimination led to countless lives being saved and the quality of life many RL Irish enjoy today. We have Dr Browne to thank for that.
Not content with greatly hindering his lifelong foe, Browne continued to try implement a very leftish policy, infamously named the Mother and Child scheme. This scheme attempted to implement a system where Mothers and children under the age of 16 would receive free health care paid for by the state. This would be a good step into a perfectly leftish world and was initially received well his peers, so well in fact that he was utterly surprised when people turned on him. The change in approach to the scheme, was when the Catholic Church stepped in to dominate its stranglehold on Irish society and politics. Browne had grew up seeing the flaws in the churches and seeing its subjectivity. His policy was easy, effective and could save another portion of lives.



The Church saw the scheme as interfering with the family and the medical field, both of which was seen to be controlled by the Church. They believed opening the door to free healthcare would lead to additional risks and possible controversy (i.e abortion, contraception, etc...). They denied the creditability of the act and despite the massive push in the lower and middle classes for the policy to be put through, Church authority used its power to convince the Ministers to pull their support from the scheme. In complete shock, Browne demanded people vote on the scheme individually before he withdrew the bill. With an overwhelming majority against, Browne was forced to withdraw the Bill, resign and was forced to the backbenches for the rest of his political career. The Inter-Party government then collapsed as the support was withdrawn forcing another General Election.





Browne, personally was not a fantastic man. He was tough to get on with and regularly made enemies out of allies. He was a very convincing man yet far too brash to hold any friends for too long. His leftish idealisms and policies however, once implemented did and could have changed the fate of this country. Whilst this article is to enlighten you on the progress of Browne’s fight on TB, I’ve provided his fall from grace along with social commentary.

I hope you enjoy this article and hope the other participants in the contest Good Luck.

Defeat Tuberculosis (1950)

- Shadowfang