The outgoing Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, has announced a major investment programme for Monaghan and Cavan General Hospitals.
The announcement will allow Monaghan General Hospital to provide an on call service.
It will also mean that ambulances will be able to take emergency cases to the hospital rather than have to take patients to either Cavan or Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda as they have to at present.
Mr Martin said that, as a matter of urgency, 24-hour/seven days a week medical cover will be restored to Monaghan, and five junior doctors recruited at a cost of €750,000. Ten new beds will be provided as well as a CAT scan.
Three surgical positions to be shared between Cavan and Monaghan are also to be filled, while 19 new beds will be opened in Cavan.
The North Eastern Health Board has welcomed the minister's announcement.
