Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 12 Dec 1991

Vol. 414 No. 6

Adjournment Debate. - Media Reports on HIV Virus Infection.

Mr. Ferris

Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle, for allowing me to raise this urgent matter in the Dáil this evening. I hope that nothing I have to say on this sensitive matter will be misrepresented. What I have to say follows on the recent newspaper reports which confirm that three practising doctors in Ireland have been diagnosed as HIV positive.

These reports have led to widespread public concern, particularly following the tragic death in the US of a patient who contracted the HIV virus from her dentist. There is concern throughout the country about the risk of infection from doctors treating them.

I intend to keep this contribution brief because this is a sensitive issue. It is intended to bring to the Minister's attention the concerns patients have and to allow her the opportunity to put on the record of the House the steps being taken by the Department of Health to allay public concern in this area.

Needless to say, there is no question of a judgmental attitude on my part to the unfortunate infected doctors whose own lives are now at risk from this dreaded disease of AIDS. Our only responsibility in this House is to the well being of patients and the concept of the GMS in the Republic.

This is a matter of public concern I am sure the Department are aware of. I am sure action has been taken but we should use this forum to inform people of the procedures being put in place and the kind of preventative measures that are being taken by these unfortunate doctors. Perhaps the Minister would outline to the House what procedures are being followed in the Department in regard to people involved daily with people who are at risk. I mean people in the public services, such as prison officers, where there may be problems in relation to the perception of how contagious this disease is and how it is transmitted.

I will conclude with those comments. It is in the context of being as responsible as possible in this very sensitive area that I have raised this matter and I thank you for allowing me to do so.

Minister of State at the Department of Health (Mr. Flood)

I am aware of reports in the media in recent days which inferred that three doctors in this country have contracted the HIV virus. I can neither confirm nor deny the accuracy of these reports. I would have to accept, however, that the HIV virus does not discriminate between professions and that it is probable that a number of doctors worldwide have been infected. There is no known case where any of these doctors has transmitted the virus to a patient.

HIV anti-body testing is done in this country, as in all western countries, on a totally confidential basis. Only the doctor dealing with any given case would know the name and, possibly, the profession of the person who might be infected with the HIV virus. Such doctors would be bound by the normal ethical rules regarding patient confidentiality.

The Medical Council is the body responsible for the regulation of the medical profession in this country. It exercises its functions — which are comprehensive and wide-ranging — under the Medical Practitioner Act, 1978. These include guiding the ethical conduct and behaviour of the profession and the fitness of individual doctors to practise medicine.

The council issued ethical guidelines in 1989 which include guidance to doctors who might become infected with the HIV virus. These guidelines state, inter alia, that it is clearly unethical for doctors who consider that they might be infected with the HIV virus not to seek diagnostic testing. They further state that if the test is positive they should then place themselves in the care of professional colleagues for treatment and that they should also seek advice on how far it may be necessary for them to limit their professional practice in order to protect their patients, and that they should follow this advice. They point out that doctors who have been so consulted must counsel and support the infected doctor and ensure that their advice is followed and that the doctor concerned is not a risk to patients.

These ethical guidelines are in line with similar guidelines for the medical profession in all the major health systems worldwide. I have, nevertheless, asked the Medical Council to reassess them as a matter of urgency to see if further action is required and to ensure that they are adequate to meet the trends in the disease and are non-discriminatory.

While I am aware of the understandable fear which has been generated by a recent case in America about the possible transmission of the virus by a dentist to patients, this is the only known such possible case. I would stress that this case is still under investigation by the US Authorities and by the EC Paris centre and that this country is represented on this latter body. Any recommendations which would emanate from either of these two bodies following their investigation would, of course, receive very serious consideration.