The shortage of isolation facilities in Irish hospitals was an issue which had to be addressed, Minister for Health Mary Harney said yesterday.
The lack of such facilities meant that in some older hospitals, in particular, patients with infections such as the antibiotic-resistant superbug MRSA could not be isolated. "Infected persons have to be isolated insofar as possible and some of our older hospitals, in particular, do not facilitate that," she said.
Her comments came just days after new figures revealed no improvement in the numbers of MRSA cases reported by hospitals between 2004 and 2005.