Today's other stories in brief
Debate on centralising acute services
The continuing controversy over centralising acute services, which has seen thousands of people in some parts of the State taking to the streets in protest, will be the main topic of discussion in the third Pfizer/ Irish TimesHealth debate.
The debate, which is being held in Limerick next Tuesday evening (May 26th), will see Irish Times columnist and health commentator Maurice Neligan argue against the motion that “This house believes that centralising acute services is in the interest of patient safety.”
Also speaking against the motion will be Dr Michael Harty, co-chairman of the Clare/North Tipperary GP Action Committee.
Speaking for the motion will be Mr Paul Burke, chairman of the Reconfiguration Project Board, HSE West and a consultant vascular surgeon, and Dr Cathal O’Donnell, a consultant in emergency medicine, Mid-Western Regional Hospitals, Limerick and Ennis.
The venue is the Limerick Institute of Technology, Moylish Park, Limerick, and it begins at 6.30pm.
Admission is free but advance registration is necessary. To do so, e-mail healthdebates@ogilvy.com or call Orla Dormer on tel: 01-669 0030.
Flu virus will keep spreading
The H1N1 flu virus is likely to keep spreading rapidly between people, within countries and across the globe, the head of the World Health Organisation said last night.
Ministers and experts are meeting in Geneva to discuss how to fight the virus, as well as looking at what would trigger the WHO to declare a full pandemic.
“For the first time, we are seeing, or we may be seeing, pandemic influenza evolving in front of our eyes,” Dr Margaret Chan, WHO director-general, told her UN agency’s World Health Assembly.
“The new H1N1 virus spreads easily from person to person, spreads rapidly within a country once it becomes established, and is spreading rapidly to new countries” Dr Chan said.