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RTÉ News
4 hours ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
Doctor in Gaza says hospital running out of essential supplies
A British plastic surgeon working in Gaza has said that the hospital she is working at is running out of essential supplies that cannot be substituted. Dr Victoria Rose said medics at the Nasser Hospital have been forced to water down cleaning fluid and have been economical with anaesthetics. She described this practice as "brutal" but acknowledged it as a necessity. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Dr Rose described the situation at the Nasser Hospital in Gaza yesterday following an attack near an aid distribution centre in Rafah. More than 30 Palestinians were killed and dozens more injured in southern Gaza near a humanitarian aid distribution site run by a US company, according to local health officials. Witnesses said the Israeli military had opened fire as Palestinians gathered to collect food in Rafah. The Israeli military denied it had fired towards civilians. Dr Rose said by midday yesterday medics at the hospital had received 28 dead bodies and declared five people dead in the emergency department. She added that there were more than 200 gunshot wound victims. "We know there were more involved in the incident than we actually treated," she said. Dr Rose said that there had been a huge number of children coming in with significant, disfiguring and life-changing injuries. She said children make up at least 50% of the operating list. "Essentially these children have been blown up and are missing bits of their quite upsetting," she said. She added that due to a loss of fat and muscle bulk in their body, they are smaller and thinner, with malnutrition affecting the immune system and healing. She said that with infection setting in in children, it is progressing to life-threatening sepsis which is avoidable and would not happen in the Western world. Dr Rose said that she is leaving Nasser Hospital tomorrow, adding that after she leaves there will be no plastic surgeon at the hospital until July. She said it is difficult knowing that her chances of being let back in to Gaza may have gone right down due to media coverage.
RTÉ News
5 hours ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
87% of pharmacies sign up to free HRT scheme
The President of the Irish Pharmacy Union has said 87% of pharmacies had signed up to the free hormone replacement therapy (HRT) scheme as of Friday afternoon. Tom Murray said that he anticipated more pharmacies will have signed up over the weekend and into next week, and that it will eventually reach 100% coverage. Hormone replacement therapy, or HRT, is a treatment that involves taking hormones to address menopausal symptoms, and which can help to manage related health conditions. Pharmacies were set to start providing free HRT for women from 1 June after an agreement with Minister for Health Jennifer Carroll MacNeill last month. The IPU endorsed the scheme following Government commitments including a review of the pharmacy fee structure. Mr Murray said that pharmacists have always wanted to support women's health and want improved access to women's health. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said that previous issues that were putting pharmacists off signing up for the scheme had been resolved. He acknowledged the Minister for Health for moving this forward and making it free. Mr Murray advised non-medical card holders to sign up for the drug payment scheme to get the medicine, and for women interested in finding out more about the scheme to speak to their pharmacist.
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Health
- RTÉ News
Commissioner McGrath raises 'SkinnyTok' concerns with TikTok CEO
Michael McGrath, EU Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer Protection, has held an online meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Chew. In a statement, Mr McGrath described it as a constructive meeting during which a number of items were discussed including data protection and data flows, consumer protection, the Commission's plans for a Digital Fairness Act, the protection of minors online, and plans for a European Democracy Shield. The Commissioner also raised the trend known as 'SkinnyTok', the social media hashtag which promotes often dangerous advice on weight-loss and dieting. "I raised with Mr Chew the dangers posed to minors in particular by the social media hashtag SkinnyTok," Mr McGrath said. "I reaffirmed that the protection of minors online is a top priority of the European Commission and there are clear obligations on all social media platforms to ensure children are safe online." The risks associated with TikTok's algorithms are already part of the investigation opened by the European Commission against TikTok in February 2024. This investigation is specifically addressing TikTok's mitigation measures in relation to harmful algorithmic recommendation, including in relation to eating disorders. "For his part, Mr Chew said TikTok is taking the matter very seriously and is engaging with Commission officials in the context of the application of the Digital Services Act to ensure the required mitigation is in place," Mr McGrath said. "This is a live investigation which will take its course in the normal way but I felt it was important to reiterate the Commission's strong stance on child protection," he added. In a statement to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, TikTok said it has "strict rules" against dangerous weight loss behaviours on its platform, and the app offers several wellbeing resources, ways to connect with experts. It added that for teenage viewers, some content with harmful body ideals is age restricted.
The Journal
3 days ago
- General
- The Journal
Possible poisoning of white-tailed eagle an ‘uppercut to reintroduction but won't knock it back'
THE FIRST MALE white-tailed eagle to breed in Ireland in over a century has been found dead in Co Clare and was possibly poisoned. The white-tailed eagle, known as Caimín, held territory at the Mountshannon nest site at Lough Derg in Co Clare for the past 17 years. Eamonn Meskell is head of the National Parks and Wildlife Service programme to reintroduce the white-tailed eagle to Ireland. Speaking to RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Meskell described Caimín's death as an 'uppercut to the reintroduction project, but not one that's going to knock us back'. Caimín was found dead last Saturday and an investigation is now under way into the circumstances of his death. Initial post-mortem results from the Regional Veterinary Laboratory indicate poisoning as a possible cause of death. While Meskell said white-tailed eagles don't often die from poisoning, he warned that he has 'disturbingly noticed an increase in poisonings over the last three to five years'. Advertisement 'We've lost chicks to poisoning and rodenticide poisoning, and the initial autopsy shows that Caimín likely succumbed to rodenticide poisoning as well,' said Meskell. File image of a white-tailed eagle in flight Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo He explained that Caimín was taken from a wild nest in Norway in 2008 and was among the first consignment of 20 white-tailed eagle chicks to be sent from Norway to Ireland. Meskell said these chicks that were delivered to Ireland in 2008 were nurtured and then released into the wild with satellite tags. 'Lo and behold, five years later, Caimín mated with another white-tailed eagle chick from Norway that was released in Killarney National Park,' Meskell explained. 'They were the first pair to breed successfully and 'fledge', which means that the chicks flew from the nest in Mountshannon in 2013, and that sparked off eco tourism there and 10,000 people visited to see the eagles and chicks that year.' Caimín and Saoirse had 15 chicks, before Saoirse died of avian flu. But Caimín went onto breed once more with another eagle called Bernardine who arrived in Ireland as part of a later consignment from Norway. 'Even though Caimín was picked up dead earlier this month, Bernardine is on the nest, raising a chick now in Mountshannon as we speak, so there is light at the end of the tunnel.' Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Politics
- RTÉ News
Gaza is the 'hungriest place on Earth', says UN aid chief
Gaza is the "hungriest place on Earth right now", with people willing to do anything to get food for their children, UN aid chief Tom Fletcher has said. The Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator with the United Nations said there are 180,000 pallets of food at the border between Gaza and Israel that could feed all the civilians in war torn territory for several months. Negotiations to end more than 19 months of war have so far failed to achieve a breakthrough, with Israel resuming attacks in Gaza in March after a brief truce. Israel imposed a blockade then, saying Hamas was seizing supplies meant for civilians. Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Fletcher said: "What we're seeing is a deliberate blockade that lasted 80 days. We've now had 10-11 days where in theory, we've been able to get aid in, but it's a trickle. It's a drop in the ocean of what's needed. "We're talking about a few hundred trucks at best and during the ceasefire, when we were able to operate still with restrictions, we were getting in 600-700 trucks every day," he said. He said Israeli ministers are saying they want to withhold food from the civilian population to put more pressure on Hamas. Mr Fletcher said there are also concerns over the distribution of food by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private group backed by the United States and endorsed by Israel. "We're very worried about anything that dehumanises the population or anything that forces them to be displaced." He said around 80% of Gaza lies within the Israeli militarised zone or in areas placed under displacement orders and there is concerns that aid will be used to "further encourage people to move from where they are meant to be, from their homes and from their communities". Mr Fletcher also said his organisation is not seeing Hamas stealing aid that is being delivered. "We're not seeing that at the moment. They've been staying out of the way and mostly during the ceasefire, when we were delivering much more aid, 607 hundred trucks a day, they were staying out of the way" and civilians who needed it were getting the aid. He described the situation in Gaza as "an amazingly complex operating environment" and very insecure. "We're operating in a war zone, lots of armed groups on the ground, there was lots of looting and insecurity, so can I guarantee that every grain of rice escapes Hamas? It's very, very hard to do that." Mr Fletcher acknowledged that some aid was being stolen as it was moved across the border by what he described as criminal gangs. He also called for the hostages in Gaza to be released, adding that he has spent time with families of some of the hostages and that they are desperate to get their loved ones home. "It's a ceasefire that gets those loved ones home. Not more of this horrendous military offensive," he said. Ask about his comments earlier this month to the BBC, that "14,000 babies would die in 48 hours without aid", a timeline that was later retracted by the UN, he said "we clarified that and I should have been more careful with my words" But, he added, two million people are risk of famine right now because of the impact of the Israeli blockade.
