LONDON – Victims of the UK’s infected blood scandal, in which tens of thousands of people were infected by contaminated blood or contaminated blood products supplied by the NHS, will start receiving final compensation payments this year, the government said on Tuesday -fair.
Authorities announced the compensation plans a day after the publication of a report that concluded that public officials and doctors exposed patients to unacceptable risks by giving them blood transfusions or blood products contaminated with HIV or hepatitis from the 1970s until to the beginning of the 1990s.
The scandal is seen as the deadliest disaster in the history of Britain’s state-run National Health Service since its creation in 1948. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak apologized on Monday for the “decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life.” .
The report claims that successive UK governments refused to admit wrongdoing and tried to cover up the scandal, in which around 3,000 people died after receiving contaminated blood or blood products. In total, the report states that around 30,000 people were infected with HIV or hepatitis C, a type of liver infection, during the period.
Cabinet Office Minister John Glen told lawmakers on Tuesday that he recognized that “time is of the essence” and that victims who need payments most urgently will receive additional interim compensation of £210,000 ($267,000) within 90 days, before the establishment of the full payment plan.
He also said that friends and family who cared for those infected would also be eligible to claim compensation.
Authorities have made a first interim payment of £100,000 in 2022 to each survivor and bereaved partner. Glen has not confirmed the total cost of the compensation package, although it is estimated at more than 10 billion pounds ($12.7 billion).
But Des Collins, a lawyer representing dozens of victims, said many bereaved families have not received any payments to date and have no information about how to claim interim payments promised to the estates of those who died.
Activists have fought for decades to bring official failings to light and secure government compensation. The inquiry was finally approved in 2017 and over the past four years has analyzed evidence from more than 5,000 witnesses and more than 100,000 documents.
Many of those affected were people with hemophilia, a condition that affects the blood’s ability to clot. In the 1970s, patients received a new treatment from the United States that contained plasma from high-risk donors, including prisoners, who were paid to donate blood.
Because the treatment’s manufacturers mixed plasma from thousands of donations, one infected donor would compromise the entire batch.
The report states that about 1,250 people with bleeding disorders, including 380 children, were infected with HIV-contaminated blood products. Three-quarters of them died. Up to 5,000 other people who received the blood products developed chronic hepatitis C.
An estimated 26,800 other people also became infected with hepatitis C after receiving blood transfusions, often administered in hospitals after childbirth, surgery or an accident, according to the report.
The disaster could have been largely avoided if authorities had taken steps to address the known risks associated with blood transfusions or the use of blood products, the report concluded, adding that the UK had lagged behind many developed countries in introducing rigorous screening of blood products and blood donors. selection.
The damage caused was compounded by concealment and a defensive culture within the government and health services, the inquiry added.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
