THE Minister for Health, Mr Noonan, is to "speak comprehensively" on the HIV blood contamination controversy in the Dail today but will resist pressure to disband the Blood Transfusion Service Board (BTSB).
The Dail exchanges come as it emerged yesterday that the Midland Health Board has identified another recipient of an HIV-contaminated blood product. It was given to an elderly woman patient who has since died. The woman was terminally ill and died during that admission, according to a board spokesman.
Senior sources last night indicated that the Minister would explain why he was not made aware that blood supplies were infected even though the Department of Health and the BTSB knew of the problem. He will also give a progress report on the tracing of suspect product issues from the seven donors who gave blood before the introduction of screening in 1985. It is believed that up to 10 of the 31 infected blood products remain untraced.
The latest discovery brings to five the number of recipients of these blood products who have been identified. All recipients bar the Co Kilkenny nurse who tested positive for HIV following a blood transfusion in 1985 are dead. The other three identified were elderly men.
The BTSB sent out 31 such blood products made from seven donors who gave blood before screening for HIV was introduced in 1985. The Midland board and a number of other boards have not yet completed the search through their records.
As the second controversy involving the BTSB shows no sign of abating, Opposition parties hope to exert more pressure on the Minister this afternoon.
Fianna Fail's health spokeswoman, Ms Ma ire Geoghegan-Quinn, said while she was not pressing for the disbandment of the BTSB, she would ask Mr Noonan if he had full confidence in the board's handling of the problem, particularly the role of the new chief executive, Mr Liam Dunbar.
"The new chief executive of the BTSB, who was specifically sent in to reorganise the board, has major questions to answer about his handling of the HIV controversy. At present, the BTSB says one thing one day and two days later it emerges that this was not accurate. This is very disturbing and adds to the damage which has already been done to the BTSB by the hepatitis C scandal," said Ms Geoghegan-Quinn.
She will also ask how the Minister could be satisfied with the level of communication between his Department and the BTSB.
"There are representatives of the Department of Health on the BTSB board which, we are told, was informed of the HIV infection. Yet the Minister for Health claims not to have been notified until recently, while the chief executive of the BTSB says he has known since earlier this year but still the Minister was not informed. This does not add up."
Last night, the chairman of the board of the BTSB, Mr Joseph Holloway, was not available to comment on the latest controversy. Mr Holloway was secretary of the Department of Industry and Commerce in the 1970s and retired as secretary of the Department of Energy in 1988.
The Progressive Democrats, meanwhile, are to step up their campaign during today's question time to have the BTSB scrapped on the basis that public confidence in the nation's blood supply is severely damaged. The party's spokeswoman on health, Sen Cathy Honan, rejected Mr Noonan's assertion that restructuring the board would have to await the outcome of the hepatitis C tribunal.
"This tribunal is carrying out a very effective and efficient investigation into what has been acknowledged to be the greatest health scandal ever to hit the country," Ms Honan said. However, the tribunal was not charged with looking into the circumstances surrounding HIV infection of the blood supply and the consequences of that contamination.
The Progressive Democrats will also raise the question of why the BTSB, in correspondence about the contamination sent to 45 hospitals, failed to mention the words "HIV" virus. Less than 20 per cent of the hospitals had responded by last week