No plan to tackle deadly hospital bug

IRELAND has no national strategy to tackle the deadly MRSA hospital bug even though we have the second highest incidence of infections in Europe.

Department of Health hygiene guidelines were produced in 1995 on the management of the flesh-eating bug but it was left up to individual hospitals on how they should be implemented.

A new patients’ campaign group wants the Tánaiste and Minister for Health Mary Harney to establish tough procedures to reduce the number of MRSA cases and for hospitals to provide more information on the superbug.