Govt pledges to reduce cases of MRSA
Minister for Health Mary Harney has promised to cut the incidence of MRSA in the country's hospitals by 30% over the coming five years.
The Minister has defended the HSE's efforts to reduce the superbug, following reports that the State is defending 48 compensation claims from people who say they caught MRSA while in hospital.
Later this week the HSE will publish a nationwide MRSA hospital survey.
Mary Harney says apart from poor hygiene, over-dependence on antibiotics is to blame for the superbug.
"The reason it's high is because of the over subscribing of antibiotics," she said.
"It's going to take us a considerable time to reach for example they have in the Netherlands. But for the first time now we've set a target that over the next five years to reduce the incidents of MRSI to by 30% and we're going reduce the prescribing of antibiotics by 20 per cent during that time."
