The Director of Organ Donation and Transplants Ireland Professor Jim Egan has described as "very unprecedented" the cancellation of an organ transplant surgery in the past two weeks at the Mater Hospital, but said ICU bed capacity was the "pinch point".
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Professor Egan said the surgery cannot happen unless an ICU bed is available as the patient is immediately transferred from the operating theatre to intensive care.
He said it demands very detailed and complex surveillance in ICU immediately afterwards. Professor Egan said: "We're dealing with an unprecedented surge again of Covid cases and in regard to ICU bed capacity is the pinch point. "Regrettably, delivering organ donation and transplant in a Covid