Pioneering Irish surgeon dies

Pioneering Irish heart surgeon Dr Maurice Hickey, whose groundbreaking work in heart and lung surgery helped at the height of the fight against tuberculosis, has died.

Dr Hickey was in his mid-80s, according to the Evening Echo newspaper today. Dr Hickey who was made a Freeman of the city of Cork in 1992 for his TB work.

His work in establishing TB sanatoria was to save thousands of lives and eventually rid the country of the killer disease.