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Health

Two women contract flesh-eating disease after op

Two Northern Ireland women are recovering from the rare so-called flesh-eating disease ‘necrotizing fasciitis’ after going into hospital for routine operations.
Comment: 1

Inside Health

Eco-friendly light bulbs health alert

Friday, 10 October 2008

Energy saving light bulbs can emit levels of ultraviolet radiation sufficient to damage the skin, the Government's public health safety watchdog warned.
Comments: 5

Nurses face the axe as NHS aims to make a saving of £344m

Friday, 10 October 2008

Almost 2,500 jobs will be axed from the Northern Ireland health service within three years under radical new proposals to save millions of pounds, it was announced last night.
Comments: 13

The deal’s off if Omagh hospital plan is resisted, warns McGimpsey

Thursday, 9 October 2008

Northern Ireland’s Health Minister last night threatened to pull the plug on plans for a £190m hospital in Omagh if the local council does not support him.
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Concern grows in Donegal after three babies contract MRSA superbug

Thursday, 9 October 2008

A group representing victims and relatives who caught the hospital infection MRSA, has called for an investigation into how three babies contracted the infection at a Donegal hospital.
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UK death rates plunge

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Britain's financial health may be on the slide but our physical health is improving sharply.
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Forgetful? Your brain may be shrinking

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

Occasional memory lapses such as forgetting the name of a friend may be symptoms of a shrinking brain, researchers have found.
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Little Katie Maguire suffers from a rare form of epilepsy which means she cannot see, swallow or smile

McGimpsey refuses cash plea for little Katie

Wednesday, 8 October 2008

The father of a seriously ill Magherafelt baby has slammed health chiefs after they refused to cover the cost of her care in a US hospital.
Comments: 3

Cancer gene: Four sisters from Irish family undergo double mastectomies

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

Four sisters from one Irish family have undergone double mastectomies after they discovered they had an 80pc chance of developing breast cancer.
Comment: 1

Cure for blindness a step closer

Tuesday, 7 October 2008

A treatment to prevent the West's commonest cause of blindness moved a step closer yesterday with the discovery of a mutant gene that sharply increases the risk of sight loss.
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Wendy Richard with partner John Burns

Wendy to marry Belfast partner before she dies

Monday, 6 October 2008

The Belfast-born partner of Ex-Eastenders star Wendy Richard has spoken of the emotional turmoil her cancer has brought to their life together.
Comment: 1

MRSA deaths may see health bosses prosecuted

Monday, 6 October 2008

Directors of hospitals where patients have died from superbug infections because of failures by senior management will be prosecuted under new manslaughter laws, ministers have told NHS chiefs.
Comment: 1

Doctors are concerned that women could be damaging their health by wearing high heels

Doctors warn women over dangers of high heels

Saturday, 4 October 2008

Doctors are increasingly worried about the damage women are doing to their feet in the name of fashion.
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Dyslexia gene is carried by 15% of population

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Reading ability in the general population may be influenced by a gene linked to dyslexia, a new study shows.
Comments: 4

Woman waited 45 minutes for help

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Ambulance chiefs in the North West are investigating why a woman hurt in a car crash was left on a roadside for 45 minutes waiting for an ambulance.
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Scorpion venom tested as brain cancer cure

Thursday, 2 October 2008

Radioactive scorpion venom is being tested as a treatment for brain cancer, it was reported today.
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Drugs in tap water probe

Monday, 29 September 2008

Drinking water supplies are to be tested for the presence of prescription drugs amid fears that rivers are being contaminated by the growing quantity of pharmaceuticals flushed unwittingly down the drain.
Comment: 1

Prescription charges will be scrapped within 18 months

All prescription charges are axed

Monday, 29 September 2008

Prescription charges are to be completely scrapped for everyone in Northern Ireland within 18 months, it was announced today.
Comments: 21

Breastfeeding mums ‘reduce cancer risk’

Monday, 29 September 2008

Mothers who breastfeed for a year over the course of their lifetime are almost 5% less likely to develop breast cancer, an expert said today.
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Nigel Dodds said he can see

Dodds raises hopes of free prescriptions for cancer sufferers

Saturday, 27 September 2008

The minister in charge of Northern Ireland’s purse strings yesterday told the Belfast Telegraph he can see “no obstacles” to the scrapping of prescription charges for cancer sufferers in the province.
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Cancer patients access drug

Saturday, 27 September 2008

Doctors in Northern Ireland are treating cancer with drugs that have been deemed too expensive for the National Health Service and are bucking the UK’s healthcare lottery.
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More health:

World in Pictures: October 2008

Striking images from around the world

In Pictures: Oktoberfest

In Pictures: Oktoberfest -Sixteen-day festival in Munich, Bavaria, Germany

Sixteen-day festival in Munich, Germany

Heading Out In Northern Ireland

  • Barbara Barry, Aine Matthews & Alison Finnegan pictured at the Apartment.
  • Brian Byrne and Matthew Barry in Laverys
  • Danielle Ross, Ciara Keenan and Caron O'Neill in The Parlour

Northern Ireland Nightlife in Pictures

In Pictures: Belfast Telegraph 8k Run

BELFAST TELEGRAPH 8K RUN ORMEAU PARK

Sunday 5th October at Ormeau Park

Most popular

In Pictures: Fashion and Beauty

Fashion and Glamour

Latest styles from Belfast to Hollywood

Family Notices

War in the Caucasus

  • Russian armored vehicles enter a tunnel, moving toward the border with Russia's North Ossetia, 70 km (43 miles) north of Tskhinvali, the Georgian breakaway province of South Ossetia's capital, on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. Russia pulled the bulk of its troops and tanks from Georgia on Friday after a brief but intense war but built up its forces in and around two separatist regions and left other positions deeper in the former Soviet republic.
  • Smoke rises from a fire in the Georgian village of Kekhvi, some 15 km (9 miles) north of Tskhinvali, in Georgia's breakway province of South Ossetia on Saturday, Aug. 23, 2008. Many ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and Georgia have been looted and burned down after Russian troops entered Georgia.
  • Fire fighters extinguish a fire on a train carrying oil products after it hit a mine about 10 km (6 miles) east of Georgia's strategic central city of Gori on Sunday, Aug. 24, 2008. Interior Ministry spokesman Shota Utiashvili said the blast hit near the end of the train and one third of its 30 tanker cars were on fire.

A conflict in pictures

Columnist Comments

hamish_mcrae

Hamish McRae: So will anything shift the economic gloom?

It is a classic financial crash. Another week of mayhem in the markets, another week of despair among bankers, another week of rising concern for the rest of us. The world's monetary powers sought to reassert their authority last week by cutting interest rates, while individual governments, in particular our own one, continued to unwrap national rescue packages. Their aim was to restore confidence – and they failed.

robert_fisk

Robert Fisk: 'Collateral damage' or targeted killing, the effect is much the same

All kinds of horrors flop on to my Beirut doormat. There's the mobile phone bill, a slew of blood-soaked local Lebanese newspapers – "Saleh Aridi's blood consolidates [Druze] reconciliation", was among the goriest of the past few days – and then there are files from the dark memory lane through which all Middle East history has to pass.

laurence_white

Laurence White: Will we have any cash left after world market crash?

The financial turmoil currently gripping the world is of such a magnitude that it is over-shadowing what until a couple of months ago was the biggest story in town — the race for the White House. Now Barack Obama and John McCain find themselves a side-show.

david_healy

David Healy: I want a Northern Ireland win

Every Northern Ireland game is big, but tomorrow’s World Cup qualifier in Slovenia is really BIG.

eamon_mccann

Eamonn MCann: Was it fair to jail Shahra Marsh but let greedy bankers go free?

Nobody is immune from this banking crisis. Not Shahra Marsh. Not Mother Teresa.

frances_burscough

Frances Burscough: How being a mum can take me from good times to verse

If you didn’t already know it, you will now: today is National Poetry Day and we are marking the event by waxing lyrical and celebrating our heritage as a nation of lyricists, balladeers and poets.

lindy_mcdowell

Lindy McDowell: Might Mandy prove handy for Labour after all?

Peter Mandelson — they don’t call him the Prince of Darkness for nothing. Politically it’s been harder to put a stake through his heart than to decommission Dracula with garlic. He’s had more comebacks than Tina Turner.

Day In a Page

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Northern Ireland Troubles

In Pictures: The Northern Ireland Troubles

A Conflict in Pictures

Miss Universe

  •  Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza is crowned Miss Universe 2008 on stage during the 57th Annual Miss Universe Competition at the Crown Convention Centre on July 14, 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
  • Miss Venezuela Dayana Mendoza one of the top 15 semi finalists performs on stage during the final of the 57th Annual Miss Universe Competition at the Crown Convention Centre on July 14, 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam.
  • Miss Vietnam Lam Thuy Nguyen one of the top 15 semi finalists performs on stage during the final of the 57th Annual Miss Universe Competition at the Crown Convention Centre on July 14, 2008 in Nha Trang, Vietnam.

Nha Trang, Vietnam

In Pictures: Tyrone bring Sam home

Tyrone bring Sam home

Triumphant footballers return with trophy

In Pictures: London Fashion Week

In Pictures: London Fashion Week

Fabulous photos from the catwalk