The government is under fire for not having secured a deal with private hospitals in a bid to alleviate pressure on the health system during the Covid pandemic.
Labour leader and Tipperary TD Alan Kelly says it’s not acceptable that the situation has not been resolved.
His comments on Tipp Today earlier came as the HSE confirmed 1,151 people in hospital with the virus this morning, a record for the third day in a row. That includes 101 people in ICU which is the highest figure since April.
Deputy Kelly says private hospitals need to play their part.
“The issue in relation to private hospitals is there’s no deal there yet.”
“For me that’s shocking – we all need to row in together.”
“Our hospitals are at capacity – in fact they’re at dangerous levels as (Director General of the HSE) Paul Reid has outlined over the last 24 hours – and we need the capacity of the private hospitals.”
“The fact is that this needs to happen immediately and there can’t be any real delay.”
“I saw media reports that the Tánaiste said we should name & shame private hospitals that are not willing to participate – I agree totally with him.”
