asked the Minister for Health if he will state (i) the total average cost of maintenance of one patient for one year at the Cherry Orchard poliomyelitis unit, (ii) the total number of children infected by polio in 1956 and the number who died, and (iii) the total estimated cost to the State for the institutional treatment of all the children who suffered from poliomyelitis in 1956.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Poliomyelitis Statistics.
The unit to which the first part of the question relates is part of the Dublin Fever Hospital, Cherry Orchard, which caters for patients suffering from various types of infectious disease. Separate costings in regard to the unit mentioned are not available.
In regard to the second part of the question, I presume the information required by the Deputy is the number of children admitted to hospital, diagnosed as suffering from acute anterior poliomyelitis. The number of such children in 1956 was 437. The number of children whose deaths were certified as being due to the disease was nine.
Treatment for patients affected by poliomyelitis is provided in a variety of hospitals, e.g, special units in fever hospitals, some of which fever hospitals are units in general hospitals (such as the Galway Regional Hospital and St. Finbarr's Hospital, Cork) as well as in orthopaedic hospitals. As in the case of the Cherry Orchard institution, separate costings are not available in relation to the special poliomyelitis units or in relation to post-poliomyelitis patients in general units and, consequently, the information requested in the third part of the question is not available.