The Irish Examiner today published a report which stated that 20 patients requiring blood have received blood supplied by three donors who were subsequently diagnosed as having classical CJD. While health experts may say that there is no cause for alarm, and the indications are that the deadly brain disease cannot be contracted through blood transfusion, there is no scientific certainty of this so we cannot be complacent.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service when contacted confirmed the story and has also confirmed that the blood transfusion service doctors were contacting the GPs of the individuals concerned and that the persons affected will be informed eventually. However, I would submit that there is no guarantee that the patient will be told. It is at the discretion of the individual GP and I am questioning the principle of the right to know.
Scientific studies undertaken to date show that classical CJD can be spread through organ donation, surgery and blood transfusions, but unlike variant CJD, is not contracted by eating BSE infected beef, even though the effects of both diseases are similar. This issue is of major public interest and the explanation given by the IBTS spokesperson that the facts had not been made public on the grounds that they were contacting the recipients' doctors, is unacceptable in view of the scandals that have occurred to date and which are the subject of the Lindsay tribunal hearing. Have any lessons been learned from the past? Surely the IBTS has a responsibility to contact the affected persons directly rather than using a third party. It has some questions to answer on this issue.
I am asking if the Minister is aware of this issue; when did he become aware; why was the public not informed and, more importantly, why were the patients concerned not informed directly? The worst health scandals in the history of the State have been caused by appalling mistakes in the use of blood and its products by official agencies. I call on the Minister to make a full and frank statement and I demand that he carry out a full inquiry into the whole affair.
Since this matter is just one of a long series of incidents involving the Irish Blood Transfusion Service, I am also asking the Minister why he is suppressing the Philip Flynn report on the Irish Blood Transfusion Service. In response to a parliamentary question which I submitted to him last Tuesday, the Minister said that the report had been available to individuals within the IBTS and he welcomed the commitment given by that body that it would implement the recommendations in that report. This is a suppression of the facts. It is essential that the Flynn report be made public because we are being subjected daily to a series of selective leaks. The editorial in the Irish Examiner stated this morning that bad blood memories will not be dispelled with words. When it comes to possible links between CJD and blood, the only certainty is that there are no certainties.
It is essential that the full facts be disclosed by the Minister and that a detailed explanation be given by him. A commitment to a full inquiry into this latest incident and the full publication of the Flynn report is required. Anything short of this will demonstrate serious political negligence on the part of the Minister for Health and Children.