Striking doctors agree to investigate new SARS suspect
An elderly woman, who recently returned from Toronto, was last night being transferred to an isolation unit at the Mater Hospital, having earlier attended the casualty unit at St Vincent’s Hospital.
The woman’s transfer was taking place just as the talks between public health doctors and the Health Service Employers Agency (HSEA) ended without any progress being made, according to the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO).
The strike over pay and working conditions has hindered the state’s efforts to set up a system to deal with the threat of SARS.
But last night, the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) said it had been successful in securing a derogation from the doctors’ IMO strike committee to enable the full medical investigation of the most recent suspect SARS case. No further HSEA-IMO talks are planned and the three-week-old doctors’ strike looks set to worsen. The IMO is set to meet today to discuss an escalation of the dispute.
IMO director of industrial relations Fintan Hourihan expressed disappointment with the outcome of the talks.
Before the talks began, LRC chairman Kieran Mulvey told representatives from both sides that, given the public’s concern over the strike, it was incumbent on them to reach a conclusion as soon as possible. Last week, two other women, one Chinese, the other Irish, underwent similar tests after developing SARS-like symptoms, and while the results had still to be finally confirmed, they were not thought to be suffering from the illness.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong national director of the Special Olympics, Fay Ho Kim Fai, said she was shocked to hear of opposition to the team’s staying in Clonmel but understood people’s concerns about SARS. She said the Hong Kong sports community had taken “very good precautions'” to protect their athletes. She said that the athletes had their temperatures taken at each outing and that sports training venues were not open to the public.
Meantime, the Department of Health has also contacted the Canadian authorities to seek reassurance about the level of proactive screening in place for flights leaving from Toronto ahead of the resumption of direct flights to Dublin this weekend.
