Reaction: As concern grew yesterday about the manner in which a suspected SARS case in Dublin was handled by the health authorities, the Green Party called on the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, to recall the Dáil to debate the SARS issue.
Green Party chairman and Health spokesperson, Mr John Gormley, said if Mr Ahern did so, he would send out a clear signal that SARS was finally being given the priority it deserved.
"So far, it would appear that foot-and-mouth is given greater priority at our airports. This must change immediately," he said.
He described the way in which the case of a Chinese woman suspected of having SARS over the Easter weekend was treated as "ham-fisted" and said the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, when he spoke on radio yesterday, had alarmed the general public.
Mr Martin had admitted contingency plans to manage SARS cases had broken down over the weekend and his Department was not informed about the case for three days.
As it turned out tests on the woman confirmed yesterday she did not have the virus. But Mr Gormley said her case confirmed no proper strategy was in place to deal with the threat of SARS. Meanwhile, Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olivia Mitchell, called on the State's public health doctors, on strike over pay and working conditions, to suspend their action."I do not dispute that the public health doctors have legitimate issues which must be addressed, but this is not the time for them to be on the streets.Micheál Martin and the health system are floundering in the absence of the unique expertise provided by the doctors in the area of infectious disease control, and the public is losing confidence in the system," she said.
Labour's health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said she was alarmed to learn the Chinese woman suspected of having contracted SARS had been released with just a mask from St Vincent's hospital to a Dublin hostel where she spent the weekend while results of tests were awaited.
"It simply defies belief that, despite all the warnings from the World Health Organisation, a major Dublin hospital should have sent home a woman showing symptoms of the disease and who had returned from a high risk area.
"Surely a prudent health policy would have dictated that a person returning from a high risk area, showing any possible symptoms,would be detained for observation until a definite diagnosis was possible," she said.