What is the tainted blood scandal? | News from the United Kingdom



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What was the scandal of tainted blood?

In the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of people with hemophilia contracted hepatitis C and HIV – the virus at the root of AIDS – after receiving contaminated blood products from the NHS.

Products imported from commercial organizations in the United States have been administered to patients, including those suffering from a genetic disorder affecting blood clotting ability. Paid donors included high-risk groups, including inmates and injecting drug users.

How many people have been affected?

In 2015, a parliamentary report revealed that about 7,500 patients had been infected with blood products.

While 4,800 hemophiliacs were infected with hepatitis C or HIV, nearly 3,000 people died as a result of contamination. Patient support groups estimate that victims continue to die one day every four days.

It is thought that other people have been exposed to blood contaminated by transfusions or after delivery.

Jenni Richards, QC, the legal counsel for the survey, said the Hepatitis C Trust was still receiving calls from recently diagnosed people and that thousands of extra people were potentially at risk, but did not know they were infected.

Steve Dymond, 62, died of an organ failure in December.

What will the survey cover?

The main investigation began Tuesday at Fleetbank House, near Fleet Street, in central London, and is expected to last up to three years. He will hear people infected with HIV and hepatitis C through blood products and transfusions, as well as officials from the NHS and the Ministry of Health.

The public inquiry crosses files and electronic records in 341 separate depots containing documents related to the scandal. An investigation into the scandal was announced for the first time in July 2017.

In advance of the hearings, chaired by Sir Brian Langstaff, the government announced additional financial support for those affected by the scandal – bringing the total to £ 75 million, up from £ 46 million.

More than 1,200 witness statements were submitted to the investigation.

What do the victims want?

Victims and their relatives want to know why potential product safety warnings have been ignored and why plans to allow the UK to provide its own blood products have been dropped.

They also want to know why patient records and documents appear to have been lost or destroyed.

The victims also called on the government to increase mbad screening for hepatitis C in order to prevent new deaths.

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