asked the Minister for Health the total amount spent on the tuberculosis and other infectious diseases services from the year 1954 to date.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Infectious Diseases Services.
55.
Mr. O'Malley
The total expenditure on tuberculosis and other infectious diseases services from the year 1954/55 to 1964/65, inclusive, is calculated at £32,100,000. This amount includes £2,950,000 in respect of capital works, and the balance is made up of the revenue costs of services administered by health authorities and, also, the revenue deficits of voluntary tuberculosis hospitals which were recouped out of the Hospitals Trust Fund.
A relatively small degree of estimation has been necessary in arriving at these figures, as separate accounts are not available in respect of some of the smaller fever hospitals for the earlier years of the period mentioned.
Could the Minister say whether the expenditure of this money has been increasing or decreasing during that period?
Mr. O'Malley
The graph is on the downward trend in regard to the tuberculosis expenditure.