Swine Flu Watch: NHS urged to ignore EU rules; Municipalities claim Canada caught unprepared
Govt urged to flout EU rules during pandemic
EU rules which say doctors can only work 48 hours a week should be suspended during the swine flu crisis, say health experts.
Doctors’ group RemedyUK fears it will further burden an already overstretched NHS. It wants special measures to bypass the reduced working week, which begins for junior doctors on Saturday.
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The Royal College of Surgeons has also urged the Government to ditch the European Working Time Directive if the situation gets worse.
Full Article: here.
>>Cities slam Ottawa for poor pandemic planning
A lapse in federal leadership has left the country with no plan to keep essential services going if pandemic influenza becomes more deadly this fall, the Federation of Canadian Municipalities warns.
“The global outbreak of the H1N1 virus has exposed a serious gap in the federal government’s overall pandemic preparedness strategy,” Basil Stewart, the president of the federation, writes in an open letter sent Monday to federal Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq.
“Currently, there is neither a national plan, nor guidelines in place, to help cities and communities protect critical front-line workers such as police, firefighters, public transit operators, water and wastewater workers and municipal public-health professionals. This puts at risk the critical services that provide the foundation for effective pandemic response measures.”
Full Article: here.
Tags: h1n1, news round-up
