This article is from page 8 of the 2006-03-28 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
DOUBTS were raised this week over the readiness of the Mid Western Regional Hospital in Ennis to cope with an outbreak of the deadly human form of the Bird Flu virus.
The Health Service Executive (HSE) failed to provide answers to a number of questions put to it by The Clare People .
A spokesperson for the HSE in the Mid-West was unable to provide answers to any of the questions and indicated that it would be unlikely that anyone representing the hospital would be willing to provide any general status report on the readiness at Ennis General Hospital.
At the time of going to print, no response had been forthcoming from the hospital, or the HSE.
The questions which were put to the HSE were: what plans (if any) are in place in Ennis General Hospital in the event of an outbreak of Bird Flu in Clare, how much vaccine (if any) has been pre-ordered for Ennis, how many staff members will be given the vaccine, how many will not; when is the vaccine due to arrive in Ennis and what plans (if any) are in place in Ennis General Hospital in the event of a case of the H5N1 being found in a human in Clare?
The Tánaiste and Minister for Health, Mary Harney, last month announced the pre-ordering of some 400,000 doses of an experimental vaccine against the H5N1 strain. This vaccine, which is as yet unlicensed, has been earmarked for the inoculation of 200,000 health care professionals in the case of an outbreak of Bird Flu in Ireland.
However, it is not yet clear which health care professionals will receive the vaccine and which will not. It is also unclear when the vaccine will be delivered.
A spokesperson for the Office of Emergency Planning, whose role it is to co-ordinate and oversee the work of Government Departments in emergency planning, told The Clare People that the office’s chairperson, Minister for Defence, Willie O’Dea, was satisfied with the current level of preparation.
However, the spokesman would not provide any details on the nature of these preparations.
“Minister O’Dea has chaired a meeting recently on the readiness of the Departments of Health and Agriculture and he is very happy with the overall preparations,” the spokesman said.