Cramped conditions for Ukrainian refugees in Ireland ‘leading to Covid outbreaks’

Cramped short-term accommodation for arriving Ukrainian refugees has led to several Covid-19 outbreaks, and are breeding grounds for the virus and other infectious diseases, the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) has heard.

The IMO, which is the doctors’ union, hosted its first in-person annual general meeting (agm) since the Covid-19 crisis with a day-long series of meetings in the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday. The theme for the agm was Capacity Overload – A System at Breaking Point.

Addressing a session on medical responses to armed conflict, Dr Kateryna Kachurets, a general practitioner (GP) from Kyiv who has been based in Dublin for the past six years, described her role working with the Health Service Executive in supporting newly arrived refugees.

“For many Ukrainians who have just arrived here, it is going to be a big adjustment and it will take time,” she said. “Many will be heartbroken coming here despite the generosity of the Irish people.”

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She said the State’s temporary accommodation centre in Citywest, Dublin, is a point of entry for 90 per cent of Ukrainians where many are forced to stay for up to two weeks. “Covid safety measures are in place and everybody is offered a Covid vaccine,” she said.

“If anyone develops viral symptoms they get access to antigen testing as well. The HSE is currently developing a new model in Citywest of health screening for those who are medically vulnerable and directing them to secondary healthcare facilities.

“With the shortage of long-term accommodation, a lot of Ukrainians are forced to stay in congregated facilities with more than 400 people. About 35-40 per cent of newly arrived Ukrainians are over 65-years-old.

“Even with the best Covid measures, infection precautions and hygiene measures, Covid outbreaks are inevitable, and we have had a few outbreaks already unfortunately.”

Ms Kachurets also said the “huge shortage” of GPs in Ireland has made it “very, very difficult” to assign doctors to those who have arrived.

“The feedback I have been getting from Ukrainians is that once they do get to see a GP, it is all great, but it is really, really difficult to get GPs in some areas, and we are trying to manage that problem, but we simply don’t have enough doctors,” she added.

In a separate session on post-pandemic challenges for health services, Dr Niamh Humphries, a senior lecturer in the RCSI Graduate School of Healthcare Management, addressed the challenges in relation to the retention of staff.

She said Australia has issued 402 work visas to Irish doctors in 2022 so far compared with just 272 in the totality of pre-pandemic 2019.

On difficult working conditions, she said Ireland fared particularly poorly in relation to the number of consultants per 100,000 population. In Ireland, the figure is 71, whereas in Australia the figure is 133.

During the same session, Dr Brian Turner of UCC said Ireland has 2.9 hospital beds per 1,000 population compared with the OECD average of 4.4. “Ireland has 5.2 adult intensive care beds per 1,000 of the population compared to 14.1 on average in the OECD countries,” he added.

On gender equality, the AGM heard the gender pay gap among medical practitioners was 31.5 per cent less than their male counterparts. Women also tend to be in underrepresented in surgical specialities.