Health services in the State's largest accommodation centre for asylum-seekers at Mosney, Co Meath, have been strongly criticised in a report drawn up by local health authorities, writes Martin Wall.
A report by the North Eastern Health Board, finalised a fortnight ago, has concluded that while Mosney provided excellent accommodation for its 800 residents, "it is not providing health care to meet the identified needs of its population". The report also stated there had been 44 cases of non-medically managed circumcision of infants discovered at the centre since the beginning of last year.
"All 44 notifications received have been circumcised outside of a hospital setting, despite the mothers being advised to go through the hospital route," the report states.
Also highlighted are problems with the administration of some immunisations and the health board maintained that school-going children were not being offered booster vaccinations recommended to Irish children at age four or five.
The report said no extra funding or other resources had been provided to support public health doctors in their work. All asylum-seekers had been offered health screening, but practically none had chest X-rays to rule out tuberculosis before arriving at Mosney.
The North Eastern Health Board is responsible for providing health and social services at the centre. But it is understood to have told the Government it needs an additional €8.5 million annually to finance services for asylum-seekers.
The report found evidence that the Government's direct provision policy, which provides asylum-seekers with full board accommodation but little money, "can impact negatively on infant nutrition". It suggested provision of free formula feed for mothers could be responsible for a reduction in breast feeding.
The health board said there had been great difficulty in recruiting GPs to provide services at Mosney. It found nurses in some cases were responding to crisis and health problems and were being forced "into a type of triage role".
It identified limited resources available to provide community welfare services and "potential crowd control issues on Monday mornings when there was an overlap of clinics".
The report also found current practice and communications between the State Reception and Integration Agency and the North Eastern Health Board regarding the arrival of pregnant women following dispersal "was not adequate or appropriate".
Previously when asylum-seekers lived largely in rented accommodation their health needs could be spread between a number of GPs and other healthcare staff.
"Provision of services in direct provision centres tends to be more complex, as the health board is required to bring the health service to the centre and problems are concentrated in one place".