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Tánaiste Leo Varadkar told a private Fine Gael meeting that it was “very unfair” for the health service to “turn” on general practitioners (GPs) the responsibility for resolving the emerging controversy over testing and tracing.
At a meeting of the Fine Gael parliamentary party tonight, Varadkar said that he first heard the news via The Irish Times on Tuesday night that the contact tracing system was so overwhelmed on the weekend that people who tested positive they were asked to do their own. follow up contacts.
The Irish Times revealed on Tuesday night that thousands of close contacts of positive Covid-19 cases over a three day period will not be contacted by the HSE because the contact tracing system was overwhelmed by cases over the weekend. past.
The HSE has said it will send a text message today to between 2,000 and 2,500 people, who have already been informed by text of their infection, asking them to tell their close contacts to contact their GPs immediately to find one. Covid-19 test.
Mr. Varadkar said that while the testability held up well, the contact tracing side of the system was not doing as well. It is understood that Mr. Varadkar said at the meeting that he believes it was “unfair” to “throw all this at the GPs”.
One person present said the Tánaiste said he was disappointed to hear an HSE spokesperson “throwing all this at them.”
Multiple sources present at the meeting said that the Tánaiste said several ministers had asked the HSE in recent months if it had enough contact markers and told the government that it did.
Mr. Varadkar said that contact trackers were inexpensive and that the HSE had been told that there would never be a problem funding these publications.
A source said that the Fine Gael leader explained to the meeting that the HSE had previously told the government that personnel they had left behind on contact tracing during the quieter months could be rehired.
It is understood that Mr. Varadkar said at the meeting “that is not what happened”.
He said the government has been told that the number of cases quickly went from 600 a day to 1,200 a day, and that is where the issue first came up.
The issue has also been debated tonight at a meeting of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party, where TDs reported receiving large volumes of calls from concerned citizens and GPs.
More to follow.
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