British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak officially apologized on Monday to thousands of people affected by the contaminated blood supply scandal. “I’m really sorry,” Sunak told parliament in London. The findings of a report into the scandal are “an embarrassment to the British state”.
More than 30,000 people became infected with viruses – such as HIV or hepatitis – after receiving transfusions with infected blood between the 1970s and the early 1990s, according to a research report presented on Monday. The affected patients were those who required a blood transfusion after an accident or surgery or who were treated with blood plasma products due to anemia.
There are already 3,000 dead, but more will die
According to the 2,500-page report, about 3,000 people have died, with more deaths expected in coming years. Many recipients also face lifelong health problems.
Britain is talking about the worst health disaster in the 80-year history of the British National Healthcare System (NHS). The scandal would have been covered up for years and many victims could have been prevented. “Time and time again, people in positions of power and trust have had the opportunity to stop the transmission of these infections, but they have failed,” Prime Minister Sunak said. He promised to compensate the victims – ‘no matter what the cost’.
Children as research objects
According to the report, children with bleeding disorders were considered “subjects” in some cases. At a school where a total of 122 students with hemophilia were given blood products contaminated with hemophilia between 1970 and 1987, only 30 of them survived, according to the report.
Judge Brian Langstaff’s investigative team concluded that many cases, although not all, could have been prevented. Governments and those responsible for health care did not respond, even though the risks of, for example, the transmission of AIDS had been known since the early 1980s. Blood donors were not properly examined and blood products were imported from abroad. There is also evidence that attempts were made in the 1990s to cover up the scandal by destroying documents.
Former Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May launched the investigation into the blood scandal in 2017.
Source: Krone
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