Members of the Irish Haemophilia Society relied completely on doctors for advice on the treatment they should use to control bleeds, the tribunal was told yesterday.
Former chairman of the society Mr Frank Bird and committee member Mr Shay Farrelly, both haemophiliacs, said the society was a voluntary body with no medical expertise and it therefore depended on doctors for advice on the use of clotting concentrates.
Concentrates infected more than 220 haemophiliacs in the State with HIV and hepatitis C and the tribunal is investigating how and why this happened.
"We didn't have any medical advisers on our society and we were reliant a lot on our treaters and we went by what they were telling us and advising us as to what treatment to take," Mr Bird said.
He said the society received literature from organisations such as the World Haemophilia Foundation, but there was nowhere to file it as the society in the 1970s and early 1980s did not even have a premises. It spent much of its time organising bring-and-buy sales and flag days to raise money to help haemophiliacs and fund the society's activities, he said.
He added that some of the literature sent to the society was full of medical terms which, without expertise, the members did not understand.
He agreed that when concentrated blood products were developed they were seen as of great benefit to haemophiliacs.
Mr Farrelly represented the IHS on the National Haemophilia Services Co-ordinating Committee in 1985 - the body which selected the products to be used by haemophiliacs. He said he would have had no "clout" on the committee and never had an input into the products selected.
He agreed with counsel for the tribunal Mr Gerard Durcan SC that concentrates were seen as very advantageous to haemophiliacs because it meant they could treat bleeds themselves at home.
Mr Farrelly reiterated that the IHS relied on doctors for advice. He said it did not give medical information to members without first having it approved by doctors.
"They were our trusted medical advisers. They would have done an awful lot to promote the health of haemophiliacs and improve the health of haemophiliacs. We would have felt very comfortable with these people, that they were acting in our best interests," he said.