With a report from Henry Hess in Toronto. The federal government must, "as a
matter of urgency," identify and notify hundreds of Canadians who may have
been infected with the AIDS virus from transfusions and contaminated blood
products, a group of parliamentarians says.
"The tracing of persons infected with HIV-contaminated blood is still
incomplete," concludes an 88-page draft report by the House of Commons
subcommittee on health issues.
"The possibility that there are still HIV-infected persons who contracted
the virus from the blood system, and who are unaware of their seropositive
status, is extremely serious."
The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Globe and Mail, says 200
people in Ontario alone may have been infected through blood transfusions
and could be unaware of their health status.
It suggests, in effect, that a program at Toronto's Hospital for Sick
Children to contact all patients who received blood before mandatory testing
for HIV began in November, 1985, should be extended to all hospitals in the
country.
The all-party report, Parliament's first formal response to the
tainted-blood scandal that saw more than 1,000 Canadians infected with the
AIDS virus, is scheduled to be made public next Tuesday.
The draft report by the four-person subcommittee recommends that Ottawa
launch a sweeping public inquiry into Canada's tainted-blood scandal, that
compensation paid to victims be dramatically increased and that the entire
blood system be revamped and given a strong federal presence.
Health Minister Benoit Bouchard said yesterday that a royal commission is
not needed. Such an inquiry could last for "two, three, four years and
(would be) very expensive," he said in an interview in Toronto, where he was
taking part in an announcement of new funding for medical research. "I'm not
sure the state of the system today asks for that very, very strong
approach."
But Mr. Bouchard hinted that perhaps the federal government should take over
the job of managing the system that supplies blood and blood products for
transfusions.
He said enough is known about what went wrong in the 1980s. What is needed
is to look at whether anything should be changed today, he said. "Should it
be a much more national management system? We have to have discussions with
the provinces."
In Montreal, an epidemiologist released a study that found that one in 1,700
blood donations were infected with the human immunodeficiency virus before
mandatory testing began.
A smaller study suggested that the infection rate may have been as high as
four in 1,000, all of which leads doctors to conclude that there are
probably Canadians unaware that they are infected with the AIDS virus.
The report by the Commons subcommittee assailed both the Canadian Blood
Agency and the Canadian Red Cross Society for not taking an active role in
tracing potentially infected blood recipients.
It describes as "most disturbing" evidence presented at public hearings that
only 12 per cent of people infected with HIV through blood transfusions in
Ontario were contacted by the Red Cross.
The report says trace-back programs, in which an infected person's records
are searched to determine where the infected blood originated, and look-back
programs, in which a donor is found to be HIV-positive and his donation
record examined, continue to be performed manually and inefficiently,
meaning that infected patients probably are slipping through the cracks. (A
computerized trace-back and look-back system is expected to be operational
later this year in Canada.)
The report says the details of the inquiry, "with the efficiency and safety
of the system as its primary focus," should be worked out at a September
meeting of federal, provincial and territorial health ministers.
However, its adds pointedly that if the provinces will not agree to an
inquiry, the federal government should go it alone because of overriding
public interest.
"The overriding need is for a review of the history and present state of the
national blood system to be conducted, and its recommendations implemented,
before the system is faced with a new threat or crisis."
In fact, the report denounces the current system of distributing blood and
blood products from beginning to end and demands sweeping changes to protect
the public.
The existing system is an administrative nightmare, both unresponsive and
expensive, the report says. Provincial and territorial governments finance
and administer the system; the Canadian Blood Agency, made up of provincial
and territorial representatives, directs and co-ordinates day- to-day
policy; the Canadian Red Cross collects, purchases and distributes blood and
blood products, and the federal government has a regulatory role.
The report says the answer is for Ottawa to take a far greater role, calling
its exclusion from the daily policy decisions a "disturbing anomaly."
Equally disturbing, it says, is the lack of formal contractual arrangements
between the Canadian Blood Agency and the Red Cross, and the lack of public
supervision and accountability of the Red Cross.
The Canadian Hemophilia Society also called yesterday for sweeping changes
to the Canadian blood system.
The society, motivated by the same complaints aired in the Commons
subcommittee's report, recommends in its own report that a single agency be
responsible for all aspects of collecting, processing and distributing blood
and blood products in Canada.
The subcommittee's report recommends, as groups representing hemophiliacs
and blood-transfusion patients have for years, that the provinces compensate
the victims. To date, only Nova Scotia has announced that it will negotiate
compensation.
In an unexpected move, however, the report also suggests that Ottawa
seriously consider putting together a new federal compensation package,
bearing in mind that "compensation will end at a time when (the victims')
medical expenses continue to increase and many infected persons will be
unable to work because of their declining health status."
In 1989, the federal government offered hemophiliacs and infected
transfusion patients $120,000 in humanitarian compensation, a four-year
package that expired in April. A total of 1,068 people applied for the
payments and, to date, 943 have received the money. Many of the others have
launched lawsuits against the federal and provincial governments and the
Canadian Red Cross Society.
The Commons subcommittee's report does not deal with the legal
responsibilities for the tainted-blood scandal. A number of activists have
suggested criminal charges against senior members of the Canadian blood
system, similar to those laid in France.
The members of the Commons subcommittee on health issues are Stan Wilbee
(PC, Delta), Jean-Luc Joncas (PC, Matapedia-Matane), Rey Pagtakhan (L,
Winnipeg North) and Chris Axworthy (NDP, Saskatoon).

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