Haemophiliacs still waiting for unit

THERE is still no dedicated inpatient centre for people with haemophilia in Ireland — five years after a proposal to build one was given the green light.

Priority had been given to developing the specialist unit at St James’s Hospital in Dublin because of the high number of people with haemophilia who became caught up in the State’s blood contamination scandal.

The unit, proposed by the National Haemophilia Council, the national centre for haemophilia treatment at St James’s and the Irish Haemophilia Society (IHS), was given the go-ahead by the Department of Health and the health authority in 2003.