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£2.5m bill for Omagh injuries

MEDICAL costs for treating injured survivors of the Omagh bombing have reached almost £2.5 million, it was disclosed last night.
And significant spending will be needed to meet the long-term needs of those recovering from last month's explosion, which killed 29 people and injured 220, said Sperrin Lakeland Health and Social Care Trust chief officer Hugh Mills. Fourteen of those caught up in the explosion remain in hospital, including two critically ill patients and one in a serious condition. The cost for health and social services across the province is estimated at just under £2.5 million for the short to medium-term requirements," Mr Mills said at the Trust's annual meeting in Omagh. We are still preparing the implications for the longer term, and expect these to be significant as some of the injured will require comprehensive packages of care in their own homes for many months and possibly years."
Extra physiotherapy and occupational therapy facilities were already in place to provide "the necessary rehabilitation of the injured as they returned to our community", Mr Mills told the meeting.
He said the Trust had sent Northern Ireland Secretary Mo Mowlam - at her request - its recovery plan, outlining and costing, the medical and psychological needs of the community in the aftermath of the bombing.
The Omagh Fund has appointed five trustees to administer spending the money raised after the disaster.
The fund is expected to raise at least £3 million.