Health officials have confirmed they can’t reassure people their sensitive medical data won’t be published online.
The health system remains under massive pressure today following last week’s cyber- attack on the HSE.
Medical professionals are already under extreme pressure because of Covid 19.
This has been made worse by this cyber-attack – which has been described as a zero day attack as it’s never been seen before.
Doctors and nurses in many hospitals are now trying to treat patients with no records.
Radiology and blood samples are among the worst affected – lab capacity for checking samples is as low as 10 per cent.
Runners are now being used in hospitals to physically bring results of tests from department to department.
The HSE’s Chief Clinical Officer Colm Henry says the attack is revolting.
There has been a ransomware attack on our IT systems. We have shut them down as a precaution. This has caused disruption to some hospital services. Please see updated information on each hospital here: https://t.co/9tviGGb9tZ pic.twitter.com/BDG44OnlME
— HSE Ireland (@HSELive) May 17, 2021
The HSE has also confirmed it can’t reassure people their private and sensitive medical information won’t be leaked online by the hackers.
The Government’s repeated its insistence it won’t be paying the ransom – the amount the hackers want hasn’t been disclosed with some speculation it’s 20 million dollars.
Work will now and continue to try and fix the attack but it will be painstakingly slow.
Many appointments will be affected but urgent care is continuing.
