THE 80 patients treated by the HIV positive doctor in Letterkenny General Hospital this summer and autumn range from children to elderly people, a North Western Health Board official said last night.
Dr Sean Denyer, director of public health with the health board, told a press conference in Letterkenny last night that as a result of the unnamed doctor's involvement in the hospital's accident and emergency department, 80 patients treated by him between July 1st and November 4th will be contacted by the hospital authorities. If necessary, those patients will receive specialised counselling.
Dr Denyer said: "I think this issue is bound to raise the question of compulsory testing for medical practitioners, particularly for those involved in potentially invasive surgical procedures.
"It's a very complex issue and there is no easy answer to it. Patients want to be reassured and I think that a decision on national resting needs to be taken."
He added: "We are satisfied that the doctor concerned was suitably qualified for the post.
"It is not possible in law to force anybody to have a test. It has to be consented to. Obviously the doctor concerned is in a state of distress and there are profound implications which may have affected his ability to make a rational judgment."
Dr Denyer said as soon as the doctor was confirmed to be sick, he had no further contact with patients.
"Obviously there are a large number of people who will go through some considerable psychological anguish in the next day or two," he said.
He added that this would generate a considerable amount of anxiety in the general community, in the hospital, among general practitioners and most of all among the patients concerned, who were their prime worry.