A three-month deal has been reached for private hospitals to operate as public facilities.
19 hospitals with a capacity of under 2,000 beds with 47 intensive care units will be used by the HSE under the public-private partnership.
These include almost 1,000 single bed inpatient rooms, with 194 ventilators as well as nine laboratory services across the sites.
Delighted we have secured an arrangement to use all private hospital capacity as part of our public health service during #Covid19 emergency. This means 2000 more beds, 101 more icu & hdu beds & 194 more venalitators plus theatres & lab capacity. A big agreement over the line! https://t.co/2E6a5NLNwb
— Simon Harris TD (@SimonHarrisTD) March 30, 2020
The government says it can't confirm how much the public takeover of private hospitals will cost.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says “We’re in the middle of a national public health emergency, and we need to do all we can to increase the capacity of our hospitals so we can provide critical care to those who need it.
"It’s all hands on deck in this national effort, and I am very pleased that the private hospitals have agreed to come on board and make their facilities available.
