NI CONTINGENCY PLANS:NORTHERN IRELAND has "robust measures" in place to deal with the threatened swine flu pandemic although it is likely there will be cases of the flu in the North, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey has told the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Mr McGimpsey said he had spoken to Minister for Health Mary Harney about the flu threat, while on Monday he attended a meeting with fellow devolved UK health ministers and the British health minister, Alan Johnston.
Mr McGimpsey said outside the Assembly that an emergency control centre had been established at Castle Buildings, Stormont, to deal with an outbreak of swine flu. An emergency helpline would also be established, he said.
The Minister said there had been no confirmed cases of the flu so far in the North but “we should expect that there will be cases in due course”.
Mr McGimpsey said his department was prepared for a pandemic.
“Northern Ireland has robust plans in place for this development,” he told the Assembly.
“I have issued contingency plans for hospitals, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and social care. I have also issued urgent advice to GPs and hospital clinicians over the last few days and will continue to update them as the situation evolves.”
He added: “We will continue to ensure we are prepared and to ensure that the public is protected to the maximum level possible.”
Mr McGimpsey said that, in a “worst-case scenario”, the North had stockpiles of anti-virals that would cover 50 per cent of the population.
He added that current evidence suggested that, “other than in Mexico, the cases to date have had a mild flu-like illness which responds well to the anti-virals we have stockpiled”.