toeytoey2530 / Canva
More than 30,000 people have been infected with HIV and hepatitis C as a result of medical procedures 40 or 50 years ago.
It is described as the biggest medical disaster ever in the United Kingdom. The description is not exaggerated.
It is estimated that more than 30 thousand people have been infected with HIV and hepatitis C – all as a result of medical procedures/experiments carried out in the 1970s and 1980s.
Almost 3 thousand people will have died because they received blood from high-risk people (including prisoners and drug addicts). Most came from the USA.
More than 1,250 people who had bleeding disorders were diagnosed with HIV and hepatitis C infection after treatment. Thousands more people became infected with hepatitis C.
Other mistakes were made in blood transfusionsfor example, after a surgery or childbirth. In other cases, people with AIDS have unwittingly transmitted the virus to their partners.
And it is estimated that there was children infected with HIV and hepatitis served as guinea pigs in drug trials at the same time.
During the public inquiry into the national scandal, in 2022 the United Kingdom authorities announced that they would pay provisional compensation of 100 thousand pounds – around 117 thousand euros – to around 4 thousand victims.
This Sunday, The Times reports that the victims will receive around £10 billion, almost 11.7 billion euros.
The measures should be made official in two weeks, when the results of the investigation that began in 2017 are announced.
In addition to compensation (to victims or relatives of the deceased), an entity responsible for implementing compensation must be created.
After decades of “denial and inaction”the Government will do “the right thing”, reacted the victims’ group’s spokesperson, Andy Evans, who highlighted that there are people who “desperately” need this financial help.
