The Minister for Health announced the establishment of a national haemovigilance office. Mr Cowen said its main function would be to receive, analyse and report on adverse reaction data provided by hospitals and generally support the improvement of haemovigilance and transfusion practice nationally.
He said that during the period September 1996 to October 1997, five patients who required transfusion received blood components which were not intended for them.
Four patients reacted to the use of filters, which were necessary as the patients required filtered components, while one patient had a delayed reaction to a whole blood transfusion, which was not unexpected.
He told the Fine Gael spokesman on health, Mr Alan Shatter, that none of the incidents involved patients having unexpected reactions to blood products, none involved the procedures and processes at the BTSB, and none involved suspected bacterial contamination or viral transmission.