MRSA Bug, Cllr. McGarry Speaks Out
Issued : Friday 30 March, 2007
Cllr. Jim McGarry speaks out on the MRSA Bug which is being brought to his attention more and more as he canvasses throughout the constituency and from the callers to his office.Cllr. McGarry said that people who are ill are now too scared to go to hospital because of the MRSA superbug.
He pledged that with Labour in Government every citizen will be guaranteed "a clean bed in a clean hospital". "Indeed our Party Leader, Pat Rabbitte promised to deal with this problem in his Statement on Health and even made it No 1 of his five pledges to the Irish Electorate".
The H.S.E's own statistics, based on a survey carried out by the U.K. based Hospital Infection Society revealed that almost one third of hospitals in the Republic's 28 General Hospitals had patients with MRSA - related illnesses. The situation was worse in the 10 Regional Hospitals surveyed, with seven of these hospitals having patients with MRSA - related infections. They estimate that one in 20 patients in the Republic will leave with a Healthcare infection while one in 200 runs the risk of becoming seriously ill as a result of their stay in hospital. No wonder many people are more fearful of going to hospital than they are of their health problems.
This situation is not good enough and will not be tolerated by the Labour Party. Sick people about to enter hospitals should be given hope that they will return to their homes with their conditions greatly improved and certainly not with new complications.
Cllr. McGarry continued, Mary Harney and the present Government will not solve the problem. In fact a callous Ms. Harney, like Education Minister Mary Hanafin is threatening to oppose vigorously any local bid for compensation. The outgoing Government has vowed to fight any legal actions prompted by the recently formed "MRSA and Families". A spokesperson for Ms. Harney has stated that "all the cases will be fought", concluded Cllr.
McGarry.
Cllr 
