Shiloh
Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/06/29/2610916.htm
Health Dept 'failed' to protect against swine flu
Posted 4 hours 3 minutes ago
Updated 3 hours 48 minutes ago
Call for all frontline health workers to receive Tamiflu. (
The South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association (SASMOA) says the Health Department has failed to protect health workers from swine flu.
Two nurses have tested positive to the virus, one at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the other at the Lyell McEwin.
Andrew Murray from SASMOA says the antiviral medication Tamiflu should be given to all frontline health workers to protect against swine flu.
He says the association has been calling for the distribution of Tamiflu since the outbreak of swine flu.
"That's an obvious step that now needs to be introduced to make sure that we minimise the negative impact on people so we don't lose doctors or nurses who might be away from work for a week or two weeks or three weeks with the flu," he said.
"The ordinary flu this year is expected to be a bad year, so that worse than usual, coupled with the swine flu, will mean there will be intense pressure on emergency departments and other admittance areas.
"The people who work in there deserve, and indeed are entitled to get the very, very maximum level of protection that's available, and at the moment that's not being done."
The Health Department says it is focusing on protecting staff who are vulnerable to complications should they get swine flu.
Health Dept 'failed' to protect against swine flu
Posted 4 hours 3 minutes ago
Updated 3 hours 48 minutes ago
Call for all frontline health workers to receive Tamiflu. (
The South Australian Salaried Medical Officers Association (SASMOA) says the Health Department has failed to protect health workers from swine flu.
Two nurses have tested positive to the virus, one at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the other at the Lyell McEwin.
Andrew Murray from SASMOA says the antiviral medication Tamiflu should be given to all frontline health workers to protect against swine flu.
He says the association has been calling for the distribution of Tamiflu since the outbreak of swine flu.
"That's an obvious step that now needs to be introduced to make sure that we minimise the negative impact on people so we don't lose doctors or nurses who might be away from work for a week or two weeks or three weeks with the flu," he said.
"The ordinary flu this year is expected to be a bad year, so that worse than usual, coupled with the swine flu, will mean there will be intense pressure on emergency departments and other admittance areas.
"The people who work in there deserve, and indeed are entitled to get the very, very maximum level of protection that's available, and at the moment that's not being done."
The Health Department says it is focusing on protecting staff who are vulnerable to complications should they get swine flu.