New proposals for dealing with an influenza pandemic envisage the establishment of up to 200 special clinics and a network of flu hospitals and communal homes for those in need of in-patient care.
The proposals were drawn up after the World Health Organisation (WHO) warned last year of a potential influenza pandemic. The WHO was concerned that a H5N1 strain of avian flu could mutate to become easily transmissible from person to person.
The proposals for handling a pandemic, which official estimates suggest could affect about one million people in Ireland, have been updated by a HSE/Department of Health group during recent months.
A full plan is expected to be published by the end of the year.
HSE models forecast that about 3,800 people could die and 5,700 could be admitted to hospital in the first 15-week wave of a pandemic.
The new HSE/Department of Health proposals call for the bulk of people infected in a pandemic to remain in their homes following treatment with anti-viral drugs. These are aimed at tackling symptoms and shortening the duration of the illness.
The HSE plans to have sufficient stocks of anti-viral drugs by next month to treat 25 per cent of the population. The Government is expected to pre-order supplies of a vaccine against the specific strain of influenza, to be manufactured by the pharmaceutical industry on the outbreak of a pandemic.
However, as this could take several months to produce it is considered unlikely that there would be a specific vaccine available for the first 15-week wave.
In the interim, key workers would receive a vaccine against the H5N1 avian flu strain. However, there is no certainty that the H5N1 vaccine would have any effect against the strain of influenza involved in the pandemic.
Key personnel to receive the H5N1 vaccine include frontline healthcare staff, workers in the power generation and water supply sectors, as well as those involved in the "food chain" and in waste collection. Gardaí and Defence Forces personnel will also receive the vaccine.
An inter-departmental group is to draw up a definitive list of those involved in "essential services", who should receive some of the 200,000 vaccines on order.
The HSE envisages there could be up to 200 flu clinics. It believes that without such clinics, patients infected would have to be seen by doctors in their homes and this could place an intolerable strain on services. The proposals anticipate that 98 per cent of those infected would remain in their homes.
Infected patients with medical conditions would be referred to acute hospitals.
