Department denies vendetta in hep C row

A BITTER war of words erupted yesterday between the Government and the Blood Bank over the handling of the State’s blood supply.

The Department of Health rejected allegations that its officials had a vendetta against Dr Joan Power, the woman who helped uncover the hepatitis C scandal.

The row marks a further deterioration in the already strained relations between the two bodies at a time when the Blood Bank is struggling to get enough donations to meet patients’ needs.

The latest dispute was sparked by Dr Power’s public claim that officials in the department wanted to “bury her” professionally because of her criticism of the State’s response to infection of the blood supply.

It emerged in 1994 that at least 1,700 women were infected with hepatitis C from infected blood products over a 20-year period, despite repeated danger warnings.

While Dr Power helped uncover the scandal, she controversially did not inform at least 28 donors in the early 1990s that screening tests showed they had contracted hepatitis C.

She claimed this week that a senior departmental official told a colleague they would target her over her errors on informing donors of their hepatitis C diagnosis.

Positive Action, the support group for women who received infected blood products, is now demanding a new tribunal into the practice with wider terms of reference.

It believes information was withheld from more than 28 donors and wants a statutory inquiry to examine this possibility.

“We were called in by the Department of Health in February and told there was a problem between 1991 and ’93, that 28 people had not been informed about suspected contamination, but we don’t necessarily agree that it was only 28,” said Detta Warnock, Positive Action chairperson.

In a television interview this week, Dr Power expressed regret for her policy and accepted, in hindsight, that she should have made personal contact with the donors themselves.

The Irish Blood Transfusion Board yesterday said it hoped all issues related to the 28 donors would be dealt with urgently in an open, transparent and accountable manner.

Labour’s health spokeswoman, Liz McManus, last night called for calm in the dispute and said a statutory tribunal would help avoid any future rows.