The Blood Transfusion Service has been accused of not making its own blood products in the early 1980's because it could make a larger profit using commercial firms. The charge, which was made at the Lindsay Tribunal by the legal team of the Irish Haemophilia Society this morning, has been flatly rejected by Dr Emer Lawlor of the BTS. The Tribunal is currently hearing evidence about what efforts the BTS made between 1981 and 1983 to make blood products from Irish donations and there-by achieve self-sufficiency.
Dr Lawlor was questioned closely by John Trainor, Senior Counsel for the HIS, as to what were the grounds for her assertion that a bid by the BTS between 1981 and 1983 to make clotting agents was like turning lead into gold. Dr Lawlor conceded that the documentation of the time and beyond did not convey that impression and that, while a haematologist, she was not a fractionator and therefore not an expert.
However, Dr Lawlor said that the BTS was small in the international context and "strapped for cash" and it "most unlikely" that it could have succeeded. She said that it was "unrealistic". The Tribunal heard that one person worked on the project, overseen by Sean Hanratty, who was the Chief Technical Officer. The person, whose identity has not been made public, is expected to be called by the Tribunal to give evidence.
