Staff at Dublin's Rotunda Hospital have resorted to fundraising for a vital piece of equipment as they say there is no Government funding available for it.

Its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) needs a heart ultrasound machine known as an echocardiography machine.

It is used to assess heart structure but also give doctors important information on heart function.

Using this machine they can look at how the heart is working, use it to decide which medication best suits the situation and monitor response to treatment.

They carry out approximately 750 scans every year.

A GoFundMe page has been set up by Professor Afif El-Khuffash, a consultant neonatologist at the hospital, and other members of staff.

He says: "We are seeking your help as our clinical echocardiography machine has reached the end of its life and the information it can give us is very limited.

"As Government funding is not available for a replacement echocardiography machine, we need help from the public to raise essential funds to purchase a new machine so that we can continue to provide the best possible care for all our babies."

Every year over 1,200 babies require highly-specialised care in the NICU.

Some of those babies can be a small as 400 grams and born extremely prematurely.

"Their care can be very complex and we rely on vital information from our monitoring equipment to guide their care, improve their clinical course and maximise outcome", Prof El-Khuffash adds.

The page is hoping to reach a target of €76,500.

Those who give could also enter a draw for Six Nations tickets and a Louis Vuitton bag, thanks to generosity from the public.

Health Minister Simon Harris told Newstalk Breakfast earlier that as far as he was aware, there was never an application to the Health Service Executive (HSE) for State funding for the machine.

"My understanding is we weren't asked, but I'm more than happy to talk to the Rotunda", he said.

He also said he was due to meet the Master of the Rotunda "in the next few days".