Call for inquiry into issues at blood bank

Dr Joan Power, regional director of the Munster centre of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS), last night repeated her…

Dr Joan Power, regional director of the Munster centre of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS), last night repeated her call for a public inquiry into a number of blood-bank matters.

Dr Power, credited with discovering the hepatitis C scandal, made a similar call in a letter to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern last October. Issues she wants investigated include what she says has been a "determined and sustained" campaign "to marginalise the role of the Munster centre" since it discovered the hepatitis C scandal.

Since she wrote to Mr Ahern, the board of the IBTS has initiated an internal disciplinary inquiry into her conduct.

Dr Power was criticised over a delay in informing 28 Munster patients in the 1990s that they had tested positive for hepatitis C. This issue, together with the disciplinary matter, are expected to be discussed at a meeting of the board of the IBTS tomorrow.