Vol. 536 No. 1
102 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Health and Children the number of patients admitted to hospitals in the Eastern Regional Health Authority suffering from tuberculosis in each of the past five years; if his Department is concerned in relation to the matter; and the plans he has to deal with the matter. [13403/01]
The Health Act, 1947, and the Infectious Diseases Regulations, 1981, provide the legislative basis for the control of infectious diseases, including tuberculosis. The control of infectious diseases is a matter, in the first instance, for the health boards. The report of the working party on tuberculosis, established to evaluate policy on the prevention and treatment of the disease and make appropriate recommendations, was published in 1996. The report made recommendations for the disease's prevention and treatment. The recommendations covered a range of issues including epidemiology, surveillance, screening, preventative therapy, clinical management, and laboratory diagnosis. As recommended in the report, a permanent committee, the National Tuberculosis Committee, was established to advise on a detailed national strategy for the control and management of tuberculosis. It is developing such a strategy at present and keeps under review all issues concerning the control and management of tuberculosis.
The development of the National Disease Surveillance Centre, established in 1998, has enabled an improved level of surveillance of infectious disease. The centre assists in the continued development of strategies to control communicable diseases. Tuberculosis is one of the priority communicable diseases under surveillance by the National Disease Surveillance Centre. The detailed surveillance being undertaken by the centre of tuberculosis will enable strategies to combat the disease to be optimised through monitoring and feedback of information about trends in incidence; identification of high risk groups and risk factors; prompt recognition of and investigation of incidents and clusters of cases; monitoring of the effectiveness of tuberculosis treatment nationally; morbidity and transmission of infection to be minimised by early diagnosis and effective treatment; the reduction of avoidable mortality; and prevent the emergence of drug-resistant tuberculosis. My Department has requested information from the ERHA on the number of patients admitted to hospitals suffering from tuberculosis in each of the past five years. It has not responded in the time available. The information will be provided to the Deputy as soon as it is received.
