The former chief medical consultant of the Blood Transfusion Service Board said yesterday he did not inform the National Drugs Advisory Board, or treating doctors, that BTSB blood products were causing HIV infections in haemophiliacs in the mid-1980s.
Dr Vincent Barry claimed it was not his duty to do so as he held his position "in name only" from January 1986.
He was also director of the Cork regional centre of the BTSB at the time. "I asked to be released from the duties because I could not cope," he said.
He added that he had returned to Cork in June 1986 when he was informed of the infections by Dr Terry Walsh, a consultant haematologist at Pelican House. These matters would have been handled from the BTSB's Dublin headquarters, he said.
Counsel for the tribunal, Mr John Finlay, put it to Dr Barry that ultimate responsibility to ensure an appropriate response by the BTSB to these infections rested with him as chief medical consultant.
The letter he received from Dr Walsh in June 1986 was opened to the tribunal. Dr Walsh wrote that Prof Ian Temperley, former director of the National Haemophilia Treatment Centre, was concerned that there were five and possibly six haemophilia B patients with HIV infection and there was a strong possibility that they were infected by Pelican House Factor 9 clotting agents.
Dr Barry said he recalled writing to the regional hospital in Cork after getting this memo asking them to return non-heattreated products, but he did not inform the National Drugs Advisory Board. He did not know if anybody else in the BTSB did either.
He said he did not recall being told by Dr Walsh about an earlier letter from Prof Temperley in April 1986 which referred to patients becoming infected with HIV after it was agreed that heattreated products only would be used. "I do not recall this letter at all. There wasn't a great deal discussed with me," he said.
The tribunal also heard that the doctor treating people with haemophilia at University College Hospital, Galway, Prof Ernest Egan, wrote to the BTSB in September 1986 stating that he was very disappointed that he had only heard of the haemophilia B patients developing HIV from a third party.
"I feel that it is your responsibility to communicate this sort of information to the likes of myself so that appropriate action can be taken at our end," he wrote.
Dr Barry said he should have been told. "I don't know why it wasn't done," he said.
Asked if the information would have been conveyed to treating doctors in Drogheda he said he did not know, as he had been relieved of his duties as chief medical consultant at that stage.
Mr Finlay put it to him that documents suggested he did not return to Cork until October 1986. Dr Barry insisted it was much earlier. "I had permission to return to Cork and I had to return to Cork. No single human being could have done the two jobs. Of course, I was worried, I was extremely worried about all this. I did all I could, I'm sure," he said.