Thousands of people had been infected by the hepatitis C virus and HIV between the 1970s and 1990safter receiving blood transfusions.
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They finally get redress. Thousands of victims of a vast tainted blood scandal which killed some 2,400 people in the 1970s and 1980s in the United Kingdom will be compensated, the British government announced on Wednesday August 17. “The moral obligation of compensation is beyond doubt”commented the head of the public inquiry, Brian Langstaff, calling on the government to pay immediate compensation, without waiting for the end of the investigations.
The victims will receive a first payment of 100,000 pounds (119,000 euros), in accordance with the recommendations at the end of July from the head of the public inquiry. The government said on Wednesday that the tax-free payments would be made by the end of October in England to the sick or the spouses of the dead. Victims residing in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will also be compensated, says the British channel BBC (article in English).
Thousands of people with hemophilia were infected with the hepatitis C virus and HIV after receiving blood transfusions in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. These lots of blood, mainly from the United States, were transfused within National Health Service (NHS) facilities. The decision to open a public inquiry to shed light on this tragedy was taken in 2017 by the British government.