The CEO of the Health Service Executive, Professor Brendan Drumm, has told the Public Accounts Committee that the incidence of MRSA in Irish hospitals was not going to be resolved overnight.
He told the committee the HSE had set up a group setting performance targets for each hospital and hoped to reduce the incidence of the hospital super bug by 20% over a five-year period.
He said controlling MRSA was a major challenge to the system.
Professor Drumm told the committee that the risks of contracting MRSA within a hospital environment had increased but a situation would never be reached where there is no risk involved with going into hospital.
He said other northern European countries have a lower rate of MRSA than countries in this group of islands.
Mr Drumm added that in countries like Ireland there is much greater resistance to antibiotics than in other northern European countries.
