The Blood Transfusion Service Board has defended a delay of almost five years in telling over 6,000 women that they received potentially infected anti-D. It has also said it would continue to trace a further 13,000 unidentified women in a similar situation.
The 6,000 women have already tested negative for hepatitis C but were not previously told they received vials of anti-D made from infectious plasma. An absence of records means that a further 13,000 vials have not been connected to particular women.
Explaining the delay, a BTSB spokeswoman said the process of cross-matching which woman had received which batch of anti-D was "very cumbersome". The 6,000 women would be offered retesting simply as a reassurance, as there would be no change in their results.
Asked why the BTSB had not been able to identify the 13,000 women who received possibly contaminated products, she said some hospitals had not returned batch cards showing who had received the batches of anti-D. In other cases, women had married and changed their names. Others had emigrated.
She said efforts had been made to contact the women as part of the national screening programme and these would continue.
Asked why the BTSB had not informed the hepatitis C tribunal of inquiry of the large number of women involved, the spokeswoman said the board had not been asked the question of how many vials of anti-D had been sent out.
She said the BTSB, as a member of the hepatitis C Expert Group set up by the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen, would implement the recommendations of the group.
The Labour Party health spokeswoman, Ms Liz McManus, said yesterday issues needed to be resolved surrounding women who received potentially infected anti-D. She was very concerned at the Government's BTSB policy, particularly as it had failed to appoint a chairperson to the board, a position which had been vacant for the past three months.