TB information - A stony silence

AN outbreak of TB has been gathering pace in a Cork city national school since August.

It was confirmed this week that 48 individuals, 43 pupils and five staff, at Scoil Iósaf Naomha, in Ballintemple, have either full-blown TB or a latent, non-contagious TB.

This is a worrying situation for all involved, the children, the teachers and the community in general.

Yet in that time, despite repeated requests, the relevant HSE public health team have been available just once to directly answer questions about the outbreak.

They have been obstructive and uncommunicative leaving a vacuum where rumour and counter-rumour thrive. Where they should be proactive they have been reactive. This unacceptable stonewalling continues despite a declaration of transparency by the HSE.

Our health service, and it is ours despite what the bureaucracy who administer it might imagine, has earned a reputation for secrecy and arrogant aloofness that is utterly unacceptable.

Health Minister Mary Harney may no longer have the appetite or stomach to tackle this anti-democratic, self-serving behaviour but it must be a priority for her successor. This culture of unaccountability must be confronted and brought to an end.