Sir, – The news that a nurse in Madrid has contracted Ebola is very disturbing. Despite an isolation unit, full protective equipment and all the facilities of a modern hospital, the virus still managed to spread from patient to nurse.
This appalling event demonstrates once again the dangerous approach being adopted by the HSE for suspected Ebola cases. Patients who may have contracted this deadly infection are essentially being urged to attend their general practitioner, despite the fact that no practice can provide the type of strict isolation and decontamination equipment that was used unsuccessfully in Madrid.
Those responsible for this policy should consider that, if a suspected Ebola case does attend a GP surgery, the risk to practice staff and other patients is far from insignificant. Furthermore, besides dialling 999, there is nothing useful whatsoever that a GP can do if the diagnosis is confirmed.
While I recognise that HSE administrators instinctively love nothing more than to dump inappropriate, unnecessary, unresourced and futile work on to general practice, in this instance such a mindset may well put lives in danger.
A far better, safer approach would be for the authorities to set up a dedicated telephone hotline which could be advertised on national radio and television. Patients who fear they may have contracted Ebola could contact this number whereupon a properly equipped team could attend them directly in their homes, and arrange transfer, thus minimising the risk of spread.
In Ireland we traditionally wait until disaster strikes before belatedly doing the right thing. Let us hope this does not happen with the Ebola virus. – Yours, etc,
Dr RUAIRI HANLEY,
Navan,
Co Meath.