There has been no national public health medical service for an out-of-hours anthrax emergency since October 30th, The Irish Times has learned.
Although the Government's protocol for dealing with a suspected case of anthrax calls for public health doctors to provide a 24-hour on-call service, there has been no agreement on a formal structure to meet this need. The protocol was published on October 17th.
According to Dr Declan Bedford, chairman of the Irish Medical Organisation's public health doctors committee, the Health Service Employers' Agency (HSEA) entered into negotiations with the organisation only at the beginning of this week.
Public health doctors are seeking appropriate remuneration and restoring to provide the new service.
Yesterday's edition of Medicine Weekly reported that the Department of Health initially refused to authorise the SEA to negotiate with the AMI when the issue was first raised. The Irish Times has learned that this decision was reversed at the weekend and that formal negotiations began last Monday.
The impasse means that in the event of a suspected anthrax exposure outside normal office hours, no expert input from public health specialists can be guaranteed. These doctors travel to the site of the emergency, and in conjunction with garda∅ and Army officers, assess the level of risk which each incident poses to public health. Specialists also provide on the spot antibiotic treatment - with the drug ciprofloxicin - to people who have had a possible exposure to the anthrax bacteria.
Public health doctors are concerned that there is an unacceptable risk to the public with no guarantee of a proper medical response in the event of a real anthrax attack in the Republic.