Political response
Arthur Beesley,
Political Reporter
The Minister for Health will report to the Cabinet tomorrow on his response to the SARS outbreak and the strike by public health doctors.
Mr Martin is also expected to raise the fatal case of Legionnaire's disease in Waterford, which emerged yesterday as the latest setback in the health sector.
The death of a middle-aged woman from the south-east at Waterford Regional Hospital led the Opposition to call for renewed efforts to resolve the dispute by public health doctors.
Fine Gael's health spokeswoman, Ms Olwyn Enright, said Mr Martin must give a full report on the measures taken to contain the disease.
"A terse statement from the South Eastern Health Board that someone died as a result of an infection acquired in the region's major hospital is simply not good enough," she said.
The Labour spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said the case was a further blow to morale in a service "reeling from a series of crises and chronic mismanagement".
"People who go to hospital for treatment for one condition should not find themselves at risk from another," she said.
Mr Martin will brief the Cabinet at its weekly meeting tomorrow, but it is understood there are no plans at present for a formal discussion on the matter. Political sources said it was normal for major issues of public debate, such as SARS and the doctors' strike, to be raised at Cabinet.
In advance of that, the Minister will today attend the first meeting of the interdepartmental group which has been set up to respond to the SARS threat. He attended a separate meeting of senior health board managers yesterday.
Despite a perception that the Minister had been left alone by fellow Cabinet members to deal with the crisis, sources close to Mr Martin said he was "fully confident" of support from his colleagues.
The Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr Walsh, said yesterday that he had full confidence in Mr Martin's reponse to the SARS threat which, he said, was effective.
Mr Walsh said on RTE Radio that he had had the luxury during the foot-and-mouth crisis two years ago of being able to order the cull of a herd threatened with the disease. Such an option was not open to Mr Martin, he said.
With several unnamed backbench TDs in Fianna Fáil criticising Mr Martin's performance, a number of individuals in Government circles conceded privately yesterday that he had been damaged by his response to the SARS threat and the doctors' strike.
They said the case of a Chinese woman treated last week for possible SARS infection was particularly damaging.
The woman was not quarantined over the Easter weekend and, when she was admitted to hospital, there were conflicting reports about her condition from the Eastern Regional Health Authority and from Mr Martin's own Department.
The same political sources questioned the wisdom of Mr Martin's threat to senior public health doctors who are participating in the industrial action.