PATIENTS and their families are being forced to pay almost €2.6 million in car park fees every year — the equivalent of €7,100 a day — at one of the country’s largest hospitals.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney has budgeted to spend an extra €603,000 on outside advisers this year — as desperate carers for the disabled battle to prevent their respite help being slashed.

A surfer is in hospital after he was attacked by a shark off the Australian west coast, an official said.

INVESTORS got millions of euro of tax breaks to build private hospitals which may not meet future quality and safety standards, it has emerged.

Mexico City lowered its swine flu alert level from yellow to green, and the mayor said “we can relax” now that there have been no new infections for a week.

Mexico’s president assumed new powers to isolate people infected with a deadly swine flu strain as authorities struggled to contain an outbreak that world health officials warned could become a global epidemic.

The stimulant drug BZP which is promoted as a legal alternative to ecstasy and amphetamines was banned today by the Government.

HEALTH services are to revert to local control in the next 18 months under a massive restructuring of the Health Service Executive.

ALARM was expressed last night at the number of homeless people dying in Dublin while underfunded shelters are being left idle.

Care standards for the elderly could be endangered if pay and conditions for workers are not improved, a Stormont watchdog in the North warned today.

The global search for 2,000 extra hospital consultants can begin now that an agreement has been reached on new contracts, Health Minister Mary Harney said today.

Elderly people on medication risk accidental overdose because they may not know their correct dosage, it was warned today.

A campaign group representing women who had their wombs removed unnecessarily by Dr Michael Neary tonight said awards of up to 380,000 euro would be an acknowledgement of their suffering.

Abortion statistics from an in-depth survey on sexual health are inaccurate due to the way the questions were framed, the Pro-Life Campaign claimed today.

A Government ban on packs of 10 cigarettes, due to come into law today, has been delayed by the tobacco industry.

Compensation payments to elderly patients illegally charged in public nursing homes since the 1970s will begin next month, it emerged today.

HEALTH Minister Mary Harney was yesterday accused of failing cancer patients in the Mid-West who do not have private medical insurance.

THE National Consumer Agency has been complaining about the high cost of prescription medicine in this country. Ireland is the fourth most expensive country for prescription medicine in the eurozone.

Health service bosses are considering an offer from a private development consortium to build a new National Children’s Hospital on a non-profit basis, it emerged today.

Five European countries have adopted smoking bans since Ireland first pioneered the move two years ago today.

The site for a new National Children’s Hospital will be chosen objectively by an expert task force, health service bosses said tonight.

A national ’hygiene tzar’ is needed to clean up hospitals and stop patients picking up infections like MRSA, an Oireachtas Committee heard today.

THE Government has ordered more than 400,000 doses of a test human vaccine against the deadly H5N1 strain.

The Department of Health has said that a claim for better pay and working conditions lodged by nurses would cost the taxpayer an estimated €1bn.

NURSES yesterday broadened their campaign for action on overcrowding in hospital accident and emergency wards

A chicken and another dead bird have tested positive for bird flu in Hong Kong, health authorities said today.

The health service, which makes up 5% of the national workforce, must deliver better value for money, it was claimed today.

THE 140-page report into the retention of the organs of children, which was drawn up by Dr Deidre Madden of University College Cork, has concluded that there was no commercial motivation behind the practice.

Children should be taught to cook from a young age as part of the solution to the growing obesity problem, a top chef said today.

An information booklet warning women about potential problems that may arise following breast implant surgery will be given to doctors’ surgeries around the country, it was confirmed today.

The Taiwanese birds said to have infected a parrot in Britain with bird flu were inspected for flu before leaving the island and received a clean bill of health, a Taiwanese official said today.

THE Health Service Executive (HSE) is planning to spend up to €400 million on an IT system that former Health Minister Micheál Martin ordered stopped because he feared costs would spiral out of control.

A warning from a trade union over difficulties with the roll-out of 200,000 doctor-only medical cards was today branded extraordinary by health service employers.

A FEW days ago, a play opened in Dublin based on hapless Hollywood comedy duo Laurel and Hardy.

Dependent elderly citizens are to benefit from a stronger support network this winter to help them remain in their homes, the Tánaiste revealed today.

A Government plan to slash 600 jobs from the nation’s health service is nearing completion, it emerged today.

A health minister said today he was keeping an open mind on the introduction of a full smoking ban in Northern Ireland by 2007.

UP to 50 people affected by the killer bug, MRSA, are to sue the State on grounds they or their families were infected due to lax hygiene controls in hospitals.

Fine Gael and Labour today accused the Oireachtas Health Committee of ignoring crucial issues in its findings on the illegal nursing homes charges debacle.

Staff cuts in the nation’s health service may include culling nurses, it was claimed today.

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell’s plans to introduce café-style bars to tackle binge drinking will only make the problem worse, according to the Government’s foremost alcohol adviser.

Food vending machines should be banned in primary schools and more physical activity offered in a bid to tackle the growing obesity epidemic among children, a new report urged today.

OBESITY rates are increasing at such a speed that a report, published today, will recommend a tripling in the number of obesity clinics, banning fizzy drink and sweet machines in schools and a massive drive to hire more dieticians.

The Government today appointed a medical lawyer to hold a limited public inquiry into the illegal retention of children’s organs by hospitals.