The confirmation that a patient was diagnosed with AIDS at a Dublin hospital in November 1983 was treated with indifference by the BTSB board, it was claimed.
The patient at St James's Hospital was the first haemophiliac in the State to be diagnosed with AIDS.
Counsel for the Irish Haemophilia Society, Mr John Trainor SC, suggested to Dr Emer Lawlor, deputy medical director of the BTSB, that it was extraordinary that this "most important and serious event" was not discussed at a meeting of the BTSB the following month, in December 1983.
Dr Lawlor said she would not disagree but it might have been brought up at the January meeting. She added that she would not interpret the failure to discuss it as indifference. "There was so much concern about HIV that it impeded discussion. It was all treated in such a hush-hush manner. That is also an unfortunate issue. It may have been discussed and not minuted."
She said agreement was being reached at the time to have all imported blood products heat-treated, which would have inactivated the HIV virus. This happened between December 1984 and January 1985 and only one patient was infected thereafter.
Counsel put it to her that the board was taking no action, despite the fact that a haemophiliac had AIDS. "It seems it was waiting to see what everybody else would do."
Dr Lawlor agreed, referring to the BTSB as being like "pygmies". It did not have the ability to do scientific research and was grossly underfunded.
She also agreed that it was the initiative of others, including Prof Ian Temperley, former director of the National Haemophilia Treatment Centre, which changed things.
Mr Trainor put it to her that the BTSB knew as far back as July 1982 that there was a risk that haemophiliacs could contract AIDS from blood-clotting agents. Dr Lawlor felt it would not have known until early 1983, but she said it was a "medical tragedy" that nobody realised what a "tempest and tornado" the virus turned out to be.
"This was a new disease and people had this evidence-based attitude that you had to wait for proof. People have learnt from it," she added.
She said it was a pity nobody in the BTSB had considered heat-treating blood products earlier. This surprised her.