Doctors with expertise in blood products based at the headquarters of the Blood Transfusion Service Board were denied access to board meetings of the organisation over a two-year period, the tribunal heard.
The former chief medical consultant of the BTSB, Dr Vincent Barry, agreed under cross-examination that the doctors were "cut adrift" in 1986 and 1987. Dr Barry was the only medic from the BTSB attending board meetings at the time but he did not have any expertise in blood products.
Mr Charles Meenan SC, counsel for Dr Terry Walsh who was a consultant haematologist at Pelican House from 1986 to 1987, put it to Dr Barry that the job of chief medical consultant was simply not being done while he held the post because he could not advise the board on blood products. "To the best of my ability I acted," Dr Barry replied.
Mr Meenan said Dr Barry had been informed by Dr Walsh in a "devastating letter" in June 1986 that BTSB factor 9 was suspected of causing HIV infection in haemophiliacs. He suggested to Dr Barry that this matter was never brought to the attention of the board of the BTSB, even though it was his role to do so.
Dr Barry agreed. He said he could not explain how it happened. Asked why he didn't bring it up at a board meeting Dr Barry replied: "I can't recall."
He added however, that he was quite sure he acted on the letter, withdrawing non-heat-treated products from circulation in the Cork area. Mr Meenan said Dr Walsh would say he acted on information that patients were testing HIV positive in June 1986 and sent out a recall notice to hospitals around the State because there was nobody at Pelican House to do so.
Dr Barry agreed. He said Dr Walsh was the expert on these matters. He himself knew very little about them when he was appointed to his post and spent most of his time in Cork.
Counsel for the BTSB, Mr Michael McGrath SC, pointed out that the board must have been informed that patients were testing HIV positive because within a week of the issuing of Dr Walsh's memo in June 1986, a special committee was set up to examine the provision of factor concentrates.