Harney criticised over changes to Hepatitis C Bill

Changes to a Bill to establish a statutory scheme to deal with insurance difficulties experienced by people infected with Hepatitis C and HIV through infected blood products led to a row in the Dáil today.

The Minister for Health Mary Harney said a new medical test - called the Elisa test - would be used to diagnose Hepatitis C.

This sparked the row.

An amendment in the proposed legislation restricts compensation to persons who test positive for Hepatitis C infection, and restricts it from those who display the symptoms but do not test positive.

But according to the Oppostion, restricting compensation to patients testing positive for Hepatitis C infection in one blood test discriminates against those with the symptoms, but who do test positive.

Ms Harney told the Dáil: "In order to have a consistent approach to all three supports it was agreed by the Government that a Hep C diagnosis should be defined in terms of a scientific test, the Elisa test, in respect of chronic infection and in terms of certain defined symptoms in respect of acute infections acquired within 16 weeks of administration of the anti-D product.

"To ensure the support schemes operate in a fair and equitable manner and that those determining eligibility under the scheme use clear consistent criteria. It has been decided that the diagnosis will be decided by means of an internationally accepted test.

"For many, many years people infected with Hep C have made the very reasonable case for a method of addressing the insurance difficulties that they and they're spouses faced.

"While it was relatively easy to find precedent for monetary compensation, no where in the world was there a scheme to address the insurance difficulties of this nature.

Ms Harney added that the Elisa test was accepted internationally as the being the standard method for diagnosing Hepatitis C.

However, this move was opposed by members of the Opposition. Fine Gael health spokesman Dr Liam Twomey said the Bill was "only supposed to be about insurance". He added that too much emphasis was being placed on one test and that the capacity for independent medical assessments were being removed.

Labour health spokeswoman Liz McManus accused the Minister of "bad faith", saying promises made have not been honoured "because of a sneaky set of amendments".