Govt spending allocation ‘not enough to fight flu outbreak’
The Government’s spending allocation for a stockpile of anti-flu drugs is reportedly too little to fight an outbreak of the virus.
Reports this morning said the €9m allocation alluded to by Health Minister Mary Harney in recent weeks would only buy enough drugs to treat 16% of the population.
The British health authorities have reportedly decided that, in order to successfully combat a flu pandemic, they will need enough drugs to treat 25% of their population.
This morning’s reports said the Irish Government was now examining whether to increase its planned spend to €15m in order to also reach this benchmark.
International health experts have been warning for some time that the world is overdue a flu pandemic and the World Health Organisation has signalled that it may be sparked by the current bird flu outbreak in south-east Asia.
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