Riaz Mohammed with his wife

Fife Health Board has written to 350 of Mr Mohammed's patients advising them to take a test for hepatitis B.

Its acting director of public health, Dr Charles Saunders, said that the helpline had received more than 400 calls between 0800 and 2000 BST on Thursday.

And he promised that it would remain open for as long as required.

"Once the calls stop coming in we will stop the helpline," he said.

Dr Saunders said he assumed that all the 350 patients written to by the board would now have received their letters.

We have passed the information about this incident on to the UK Government's advisory panel on hepatitis B on health care workers

Dr Charles Saunders

"The helpline is also getting calls from members of the public who are not involved who may be concerned and we are very happy for those people to phone the helpline as well," he said.

Mr Mohammed has expressed his sympathy to the family of Mr Cant.

He said: "My sympathy goes to the family of the patient who died and I regret the distress that has been caused to any of my patients.

"I have complied fully with all protocols relating to testing for and immunisation against hepatitis B and I am utterly devastated to find myself in this terrible and totally unexpected situation."

Dr Saunders said he had also apologised to Mr Cant's widow on behalf of the health board.

Mr Mohammed operated at Queen Margaret Hospital

He added that there had been an "extremely unusual set of circumstances" in the case.

"The trust and the health care worker have totally complied with the guidelines issued by the Scottish Executive.

"We have passed the information about this incident on to the UK Government's advisory panel on hepatitis B on health care workers.

"I understand that they intend to review the current guidance and see if it needs to be changed to take the circumstances into account," he said.

However, a spokesman for the Department of Health said it would wait for the results of an inquiry being carried out into the case before reviewing its guidelines.

Dr David Fraser of Fife Acute Hospitals Trust has called for a review of testing procedures, which he said had failed to work in this case.

Disease symptoms

Scottish Health Minister, Susan Deacon, agreed on Thursday that it was timely to look again at the guidelines and procedures for testing staff.

Hepatitis B is a liver disease spread through body fluids.

Symptoms include extreme tiredness, joint pain, loss of appetite, nausea and yellow skin.

Most of those infected with hepatitis B survive, but in acute cases the virus attacks the liver, potentially causing cirrhosis or cancer.

The Fife Health Board helpline can be contacted on 0800 783 5066.