United Kingdom acknowledged that for years he exposed thousands of patients to deadly infections through contaminated blood and they covered up the fact. The transfusions infected more than 30,000 people with him HIV and the hepatitis C and left 3,000 dead between the years 1970 and 1990.
The former judge Brian Langstaffwho directed the report, said that “the magnitude of what happened is frightening“and that all”could have been largely avoided“. The investigation has more than 2,500 pages with testimonies and documents that prove that “the truth was hidden during decades”.
The United Kingdom contaminated thousands of people with contaminated blood: the report
Brian Langstaff -who worked for 5 years on the investigation- points out above all the responsibility of successive governments for being slow to act when the scandal emerged and for having wrongly assured on several occasions that patients had received the best treatment.
Between the 1970s and early 1990s, more than 30,000 people suffering from hemophilia or had undergone surgery received a new treatment that United Kingdom had imported from United Statesyou. All were contaminated by the hepatitis C virus and HIV after receiving the transfusions.
Some of the plasma used to create the products was traced to high-risk donors like prisoners and homeless people who gave blood in exchange for money. In this way, the manufacturers of the treatment mixed plasma from thousands of donations so that one infected donor exposed the entire batch.
“This disaster was not an accident. The infections occurred because those in positions of authority They did not prioritize the patient’s health”Langstaff declared. “The response of the current authorities did nothing more than aggravate the suffering of victims“says the report.
In the investigation they affirm that many of the deaths and illnesses could have been avoided if the government had taken measures to correct the risks that existed due to transfusions with contaminated blood.
In 2017, the British government decided to open this public investigation to offer transparency about this tragedy, described as “the worst medical disaster” in the history of the NHS. Then in 2022asked the authorities to pay compensation to the victims, without waiting until the end of the investigation.
“The answer to the question ‘was there a cover-up?’ yes, there was”, stated the former judge. And he added: “Pto save appearances and save expensesmuch of the truth has been hidden.”
The word of the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
British Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, referred to the scandal and apologized for the actions of the conservative governments. Besides, apologized to the victims and said the publication of the report was “a day of shame for the British state.”
“Today’s report shows a decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life. From the NHS to the civil service, to ministers in successive governments, to all levels of people and institutions in which we have placed our trust They failed in the most horrific and devastating way“said the minister.
Finally, he referred to the compensation for those affected and promised to pay “whatever it costs” to compensate them and the families of those who died. In this way, the Secretary of State of the Ministry of the Cabinet, John Glenanticipated that the Government will compensate with advance payments of 210,000 pounds to victims before compensation is determined.
Source: Ambito
