The director of cancer services in the midwest says he fears more women who were treated at Barringtons' hospital in Limerick may have been misdiagnosed after they underwent tests for breast cancer.
Prof Rajnish Gupta was speaking after the private hospital agreed to a request from the Department of Health to suspend its delivery of breast cancer services pending a review of hundreds of cases dating back to 2003.
Speaking at a news conference at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital Limerick, Prof Gupta said: "I don't know what the review may or may not pick up; I have a suspicion I know because obviously I have raised concerns about the treatment of 10 patients, which is in the public domain.
"There are 10 that I forwarded but there are more. My concern is why haven't we been doing something about this sooner, why has it taken an individual lady who had the courage to allow me to make her case public earlier this year, which then precipitated the rest?"
Prof Gupta said he had not singled out any one individual in referring the 10 cases to the Irish Medical Council.
"If you look back at what I have said over the past few months and certainly what I have said over the past few years I have not actually mentioned any individual by name.
"If you are making a concern known to the Irish Medical Council it has to be regarding an individual and I have had discussions with them in the past but I have not actually forwarded them an official complaint because I could argue I don't know who the individuals are and there may be more then one," he said.
"My concern has been to do with where the patients have been treated and, if you like, the institution - in this case Barringtons' - because that is all I can refer to.
"I have to be careful in that I don't accuse an individual without having direct evidence or proof that something improper has happened," he said.
Therefore what he had referred to was Barringtons' hospital, as an institution where such procedures occurred "and where such patients were looked after".
Prof Gupta concluded by saying he hoped that lessons would be learned from this week's developments at Barringtons' hospital.