THE first national MRSA conference will be held this March in Donegal.

The MRSA and families branch has been established in Donegal since last September and this event will be reflected as a testament of their strength and ability. All members of the public and public representatives are asked to attend this conference which will be held in the Silver Tassie on March 2 and 3.

Some of the most notable professionals in the field of medicine on a national and international stage will attend. Paul Bergervoet, an infection control practitioner from the Deventer hospital in Holland will be among one of the first speakers on Saturday morning. On Friday night a power point presentation will be given in relation to infection control in Holland and a workshop will take place.

Professor Hilary Humphreys from the Beaumont Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons will be among the speakers on Saturday. Mr Humphreys has had numerous works published on the subject of MRSA in the past.

The assistant National Director of Population Health and Protection with the Health Service Executive, Kevin Kelleher, who recently appeared on the Late Late show, will also be a speaker during the conference which is expecgted to attract a lot of attention. Other speakers at the conference are: Dr Mary Hynes, Assistant National Director of quality risk and customer with the HSE, Dr Micheal Mulhern, Microbiologist at Letterkenny General Hospital, Margaret Dawson founder of MRSA and Families and Ian Simons, legal advisor to MRSA and Families groups. A fifteen minute questions and answers session will be held following each speaker. Tommy Frances from Falcarragh will act as Chair.

"A lot of work has been done in the past few months to attract speakers of this calibre. It will be a landmark conference and we are confident that a lot of positive remarks will be made throughout the two days,"said Rosemary Cassidy, Chairperson of the MRSA and Families branch in Donegal.