asked the Minister for Health if he will consider having St. Anne's Isolation Hospital in Killarney, County Kerry, kept open; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
Written Answers. - Killarney Isolation Hospital.
28.
Killarney Isolation Hospital is a general practitioner staffed isolation hospital and is the last remaining hospital of this type in the country. All other infectious diseases units in the country are consultant staffed and function as part of or in association with major hospitals. This is in line with all the expert medical advice which indicates that isolation facilities are best located within a general hospital complex where the whole range of medical facilities would be available. The infectious diseases patients treated in this hospital would therefore be more appropriately treated in other Southern Health Board general hospitals and I do not propose to reconsider the decision to close it as an isolation hospital.