Dr Joan Power, the consultant haematologist who uncovered the blood transfusion scandal in 1994, has been suspended by the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) the Irish Hospital Consultants' Association (IHCA) confirmed last night.
IHCA spokesman Mr Finbarr Fitzpatrick said Dr Power was informed of her suspension on Thursday evening last but it was difficult to say what was behind the decision of the IBTS.
"The ongoing row between the Cork and Dublin centres over dual site testing is always in the background, but there also seems to be a question concerning the custody of records and access by Dublin to the records held in Cork. There seems to be constant friction between Cork and Dublin," he added.
Since her discovery in 1994 that many otherwise healthy women of childbearing age had contracted hepatitis C following blood transfusions, Dr Power has been the central figure in the bitter row between the blood testing centre at St Finbarr's Hospital in Cork and the Dublin-based IBTS.
The critical issue, ostensibly, is whether all blood testing in the State should be carried out in Dublin only, or whether Cork should continue to offer a back-up service. The IBTS wants to centralise testing. The Southern Health Board and consultants throughout Munster have campaigned for the upgrading of the Cork centre and retention of the status quo, on the grounds that single-site testing would raise inherent health safety issues.
However, on several occasions, Dr Power has clashed with the IBTS. Some years ago, she took an action against its chief executive, Mr Martin Hynes, on the grounds of bullying. She lost the action and did not appeal. Last year, she claimed the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children had been misled by the IBTS in its submissions to the Dáil inquiry into the blood transfusion scandal. Subsequently, the Flynn report on the service was commissioned but its findings have never been made public.
Nevertheless, the report is understood to have been critical of both sides in the long-running dispute.
Her medical colleagues in Munster, who are united behind her, according to senior medical sources, say Dr Power has been treated badly ever since the blood transfusion scandal erupted.
Last night, the IBTS said its policy was not to comment on individual cases. The board also refused to confirm that Dr Power had been suspended.
Mr Fitzpatrick said the IHCA had handed the matter over to its legal advisers and would be seeking further clarification.
Dr Power was not available for comment last night.