War can have severe health effects, both direct and indirect. Direct effects include injuries, trauma, and deaths caused by violence. Indirect effects involve displacement, disrupted access to healthcare, spread of diseases in crowded conditions, and psychological impacts such as post-traumatic stress disorder. Also wars often lead to the destruction of infrastructure, hindering the delivery of…

At over €2.5 billion and counting, the new National Children’s Hospital at the St James’s Hospital campus in Dublin has been delayed by years and dogged by controversy. The project has become a political and financial nightmare. The new hospital is due to be finished late next year but will then have to be fitted…

Or indeed the lack of a realistic funding increase. Ever since Budget 2024 was announced, opposition parties have expressed shock at how small the extra money is that the service is getting – just €800m in core extra funding. Department of Health officials have admitted they had sought an extra €2 billion next year. But…

The election must be held by Spring 2025, so what’s the rush? Well politically, October 2024 after a popular Budget is seen as a good date. The Government will be hoping that it will have delivered better on problems with health, housing and homelessness. The cost of living crisis should have eased, and the hope…

It’s about cholesterol – and the drug to lower your blood-cholesterol called Atorvastatin. In fact, cholesterol lowering drugs are the most commonly prescribed drugs world wide. The next most commonly prescribed drug is for treating excess stomach acid using a drug called Omeprazole. Millions of these drugs are prescribed every year, in Ireland, to public…

Two of the big ones are robotic surgery and wireless connectivity. Telesurgery involves both technologies. Using telesurgery, surgeons can operate surgical robotic instruments from anywhere in the world with wireless networks. With surgery, there is no room for error, yet doctors are human and mistakes can happen. Robotic surgery helps doctors to improve precision, control…

We should not be always focussed on the negatives like waiting lists and overcrowding. Recent years have seen some of the most amazing medical advances which give more hope to people of all ages. One of the big research breakthroughs was of course the Covid-19 vaccine. It was also discovered that steroids and arthritis drugs…

A hearing this week was told that the Irish health service does not have the required understanding of the condition and the population does not have the necessary awareness of it too. For this and other reasons, services are limited. There have been calls for funding in the forthcoming Budget for research, awareness and assessment…

Of course there are genuine concerns with this new technology. But what about the positive impact it may have on our healthcare? AI has the potential to transform the work of doctors, nurses and hospitals and help patients get better care. AI essentially means smart machines that can perform tasks normally done by humans. They…

The Spanish health system is rated among the top ten in the world. The World Health Organisation places it 7th in the world. That is quite impressive given it is a country with over 47 million people, compared to over 5.5 million people in Ireland. The Spanish system is regarded as first in the world for…