Special Olympics host town meet to discuss threat of SARS

OFFICIALS in a Special Olympics host town will meet tomorrow night to consider closing its doors on 60 athletes from Hong Kong.

Clonmel Borough Council in Co Tipperary has called the meeting because of fears that SARS might be spread here when its delegation from Hong Kong, which is badly hit by the virus, arrives here.

Clonmel mayor Niall Dennehy said public health issues have to be taken very seriously.

"We need to have a very serious and frank discussion on the situation now," said Ald Dennehy.

Clonmel Host Town Committee For Special Olympics spokesperson Willie O'Donnell said they are trying to remain upbeat and are taking direction from their national body and the National Diseases Surveillance Centre.

Similar meetings continue in nearby Enniscorthy and Bray which are host towns to Canada and China respectively. They are among the countries which have been most affected by the virus.

Meanwhile, Opposition parties yesterday claimed the public had lost confidence in the ability of Minister for Health to stop the spread of SARS to Ireland,

The public had lost confidence in the ability of Health Minister, Micheál Martin to stop the spread of the pneumonia-like illness SARS to Ireland, Opposition parties claimed yesterday.

Labour deputy leader and spokesperson on health Liz McManus said this was clear following the handling of the suspected case involving a woman recently returned from China.

"The direct intervention of the Taoiseach is now required. He should immediately establish and chair an emergency group involving key department and agencies as well as medical personnel, to co-ordinate efforts to provide maximum protection against the spread of SARS," she said.

"Many health professionals have still not received the necessary guidelines or equipment to enable them to deal with suspected cases."

While GPs had received face-masks, none had been provided for other personnel working in surgeries, such as nurses or receptionists.

"There still appears to be no clear strategy for dealing with those who travel to Ireland from high-risk areas. Urgent decisions have to be made with regard to screening and monitoring," she insisted.

And the Fine Gael leader in the Senate, Brian Hayes, said the preventative measures must be central to any health strategy dealing with SARS. He believed, however, that the Department of Health had no effective procedures in place to deal with the threat.

Senator Hayes said people had lost confidence in the capacity of Minister Martin to handle the threat and he had a duty to restore public confidence in the health service.

A spokesperson for the minister yesterday rejected the Opposition charges.

"Our priority is public information. The European Commission's Communicable Disease Network Committee says that public information is the best way to deal with the threat and that general screening at ports of arrival in Europe is of little value and gives a false sense of security.

She also said the Expert Committee on SARS would meet today to again review guidelines for GPs.

Public information leaflets would be distributed to all arriving passengers from today while a Chinese language version would be available from the middle of the week.