Talks were continuing late last night between strike committees in the various Midland Health Board area hospitals and hospital managers over strike cover.
A Midland Health Board spokeswoman said last night that emergency cover had been arranged for the critical care, intensive care and casualty areas under the board's responsibility.
However, as it became clear that the strike would go ahead following the ending of talks between the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, and the nursing unions last night, talks were continuing on staffing levels during the dispute.
There are three major acute hospitals in the midlands region.
They are in Tullamore, Co Offaly, where the Minister for Health lives, Portlaoise and the Longford-Westmeath hospital in Mullingar.
There are 174 beds in Tullamore Hospital, 138 in Portlaoise and 188 in Mullingar. The board employs 526 nurses in these hospitals.
Already nearly 2,000 patients have had appointments, operations or other procedures cancelled because of the dispute. In total, 93 MHB in-patients have been affected, 180 day patients and 1,600 out-patients.
While the focus of the dispute will be on the acute hospitals, there will also be service disruptions at the two main mental hospitals in the area, St Loman's in Mullingar and St Fintan's in Portlaoise.
Other hospitals in the area include Athlone, where 100 per cent of the nursing staff voted to go on strike, Edenderry, Birr, Abbeyleix and Portarlington.
The strike will also hit other services provided by the board, including the public health service, which is expected to increase pressure on local doctors.
Before leaving his home for the talks in Dublin yesterday, the Minister, Mr Cowen, repeated the Government's commitment to preservation of the partnership arrangement and said no single group of workers should endanger that partnership.