The Minister for Health Mary Harney today welcomed the provision of extra beds at a Dublin hospital which will help ease pressure on nearby Accident and Emergency wards.

MUCH has been written and spoken about the proposed changes at Peamount Hospital in Dublin.

UP TO seven patients, some with TB, have been refused admission to Peamount Hospital since last Wednesday, despite being referred there for treatment by doctors.

Pressure is growing from the Opposition for the Minister for Health to intervene in a row at Peamount Hospital which has seen an infectious TB patient from eastern Europe refused admittance.

Fine Gael TD Olivia Mitchell has called on Health Minister Micheál Martin to overturn a decision by Dublin’s Peamount Hospital not to admit a highly-infectious TB patient.

Fine Gael deputy spokesman on Health, Dan Neville, today said he feared the termination of the contract of Peamount Hospital’s Medical Director would spark the closure of the TB unit there.

The Republic of Ireland Womens Under-19 team will play Finland tomorrow in an international friendly fixture.

The Irish Nurses Organisation is warning of a TB threat if patients treated at Peamount Hospital are transferred to already overcrowded general hospitals.

The Green Party has expressed its opposition to the Government’s plans to close Peamount Hospital in Dublin, Ireland’s main TB treatment centre.

The Irish Nurses Organisation is due to hold a demonstration outside Peamount Hospital in Dublin today to protest plans to stop TB treatment services.

NURSES have warned of a TB threat if patients treated in a specialist clinic are transferred to already overcrowded general hospitals.