Doctors strike to compound threat from SARS

IRISH people will be put at greater risk, if the public health doctors strike goes ahead next Monday, because we have no strategy to deal with the killer flu virus SARS, Labour said yesterday.

Ireland is particularly vulnerable because we are hosting the Special Olympics this summer and there will be hundreds of athletes coming here from Asia and Canada where 112 people have already died of the infectious killer virus, Labour’s Health spokeswoman Liz McManus said. “The minister for health has given no indication on how he plans to deal with the SARS threat. We must have a strategy on how to assess travellers from highly infected areas to prevent the disease spreading here.”

There was nationwide campaign to contain foot and mouth disease at a huge cost to communities and workers, she said: “This involved the health of animals. We are now talking about a deadly threat to people’s lives.”