Irish health system struggling to recover from cyberattack

LONDON (AP) — Ireland's health system was still struggling to restore its computers and treat patients on Tuesday, four days after it shut down its entire IT system in response to a cyberattack.

Thousands of diagnostic appointments, cancer treatment clinics, and surgeries have been cancelled or delayed since a ransomware attack on Friday.

Authorities said hundreds of people have been deployed to tackle the attack, but it could be weeks before the health service can return to normal.

Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin said Tuesday that the attack was a “heinous” one that targeted patients and “the Irish public.”

Health Service Executive chief clinical officer Colm Henry said the attack had “a profound impact on our ability to deliver care,” and that the disruptions would undoubtedly “mount in the coming days and weeks.”

More than 2,000 patient-facing IT systems are affected, with around 80,000 devices linked to such systems throughout the health service, Henry told Irish broadcaster RTE.

Authorities are prioritising systems involving direct patient care diagnostics, such as radiology, radiotherapy, and maternity and newborn services.

“That's what our experts are focusing on this week, with external help, to ensure those services are not reliant on manual exchange of information,” he said.

The Irish Association for Emergency Medicine urged people not to turn up at hospitals' emergency departments unless they have a genuinely urgent need to do so.

It said that electronic ordering of blood tests, X-rays, and scans is not available, and clinicians have no access to previous X-rays or scan results.

Many hospitals' telephone systems are also not functioning because they are carried on computer networks, it added.

Patients have described their frustration about the attack, describing it as another torment thrown into the already difficult struggle to face illness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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