A treatment programme for people infected with hepatitis C is set to be broadened, the Public Accounts Committee will be told on Thursday.
The secretary general of the Department of Health, Jim Breslin, is expected to tell the committee that Minister for Health Simon Harris has agreed in principle to expand the programme into community facilities so that more people can be screened and treated.
It has been estimated that about 30,000 people in Ireland are infected with the hepatitis C virus, with over half of these cases undiagnosed.
About 1,700 people became infected with hepatitis C or HIV through the use of human immunoglobulin anti-D antibodies, or as a result of the receipt of a blood transfusion or blood product within the Republic. Most of those affected were women.
In his opening address to the committee, Mr Breslin will say that the infection of people through the blood supply was a “tragedy of immense proportions, causing great pain and suffering to many people”.
He will outline how the changes to the programme are intended to help eliminate hepatitis C in Ireland.
Source: Jennifer Bray, The Irish Times, 22/11/18
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