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The HSE director has welcomed the return of Dr. Tony Holohan, the medical director, to work saying “it’s good to see him back.”
Speaking at HSE’s weekly Covid briefing in Dublin, Paul Reid said that although he had heard the news on Wednesday, he had not yet spoken to Dr. Holohan, who has been on compassionate leave since July 2.
That leave was taken as a result of his wife Emer, who has been living with a form of blood cancer since 2012, entering palliative care.
While it is understood that Ms Holohan is still receiving care, her husband is expected to return to work starting Monday, and Health Minister Stephen Donnelly previously stated that he is “eager” to work with him.
“I am very happy that he is able to go back to work, I am sure that we will continue as we have done so far,” Reid said last night.
While Dr. Holohan’s return is imminent, it is understood that he did not attend yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the National Public Health Emergency Team.
The CMO, whose role had been assumed by his deputy, Dr. Ronan Glynn since July, had chaired the first six months of NPHET meetings since the start of the Covid-19 crisis in January.
Having become a familiar face to the nation through the daily NPHET updates that are shown live each night, Dr. Holohan had maintained a sometimes strained relationship with his opposite number at HSE, Mr. Reid.
That strain was best exemplified in the letter Reid wrote to the Health Department in mid-April lamenting Dr. Holohan’s announcement that Ireland would be targeting 100,000 Covid tests per week in early May. Mr. Reid said the announcement “did not take into account what can be accomplished by when.”
That 100,000 capacity figure was finally reached in early June after a series of false starts, although the capacity itself has yet to be fully utilized.
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