Ireland needs to step up preparation for Ebola - Varadkar

It is time for Ireland to step up its preparedness for tackling Ebola disease in response to the threat it poses, according to Minister for Health Leo Varadkar.

This will involve more training for staff, "dry-runs" and extra equipment, he told the Oireachtas health committee this morning.

Mr Varadkar said it was reasonable for healthcare workers to be concerned about the threat posed by the disease. It was “unlikely but possible” that staff could contract Ebola, as the experience of other countries had shown.

There was no reason to believe the Ebola outbreak will lead to emergency departments in Ireland being “swamped” or services overwhelmed, he said.

However, Mr Varadkar said there could still be “several suspect cases” of the disease in Ireland and we need to learn from the experiences of other countries.

Addressing an emergency meeting of the committee, he said that if a case does come to Ireland, it will probably be that of a person evacuated from overseas. The risk of the disease coming to Ireland remained low.

Mr Varadkar outlined the structures in place and the measures taken by Irish authorities to protect against the disease. On screening, it remained the view, based on best advice, that it is far more effective to support screening in West Africa on outward travellers than to introduce screening on inward passengers in Europe.

Last week, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) called on the HSE for a full account of contingency plans in the event of an Ebola outbreak in Ireland. The organisation said the HSE must consult with those "who will be on the front line" in dealing with members of the public who may present with symptoms.

A spokesman for the IMO said guidelines issued by the HSE did not give enough guidance to “effectively manage” a potential outbreak.

“We do not wish to be in any way alarmist about this situation but we must recognise that doctors need to have the resources and structures to deal with any circumstances that may arise,” said the IMO spokesman.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) has also called on the HSE to release contingency plans for acute hospitals and community services, should a patient present with Ebola symptoms.

The HSE says it has no plans to introduce screenings for Ebola at Irish airports, and that aside from posters at airports and ports, no other action is being taken.

A spokesman from the HSE confirmed the Irish health service was implementing measures to ensure “the provision of clear information to passengers from affected countries, particularly in relation to symptoms and how to access health care”.

He said the Department of Health would continue to monitor Ebola developments and would review screening measures if necessary.

Meanwhile, passengers arriving in the UK from countries affected by Ebola are to have their temperatures taken. The new health and safety measures, introduced yesterday, began at Heathrow airport terminal one, where most travellers from Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea land. The measures will be extended to Gatwick and the Eurostar terminals by the end of next week.

UK health secretary Jeremy Hunt said it would not be possible to identify all travellers from Ebola affected areas, but an estimated 89 per cent would be subject to screening. Mr Hunt said he hoped travellers from those countries would "self-present" to the authorities on arrival in the UK.

In his Budget 2015 speech earlier this week, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin said the Government was providing over €16 million in development assistance through Irish Aid programmes in Sierra Leone and Liberia, much of which is directly focused on fighting the Ebola outbreak.

The number of cases of Ebola in west Africa is still spreading and will exceed 9,000 this week, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). The death toll so far since the outbreak in March has reached 4,447 from a total of 8,914 cases.