by William James
LONDON, (Reuters) – Britain will spend more than 10 billion pounds ($12.70 billion) to compensate thousands of people treated with blood contaminated with HIV or hepatitis C in the 1970s and 1980, reports the Sunday Times.
The tainted blood scandal is considered one of the worst disasters in the history of the state-funded National Health Service. An estimated 30,000 people received contaminated blood and 3,000 of them died.
Victims and their families are still demanding justice, compensation and answers as to how this scandal could happen despite warnings.
The blood and blood products, some imported from the United States, were given to people in need of transfusions or treatment for hemophilia.
Ahead of the publication of an independent investigation report on Monday, the Sunday Times said Prime Minister Rishi Sunak would issue a formal apology. The government is then expected to announce a debt-financed compensation package on Tuesday.
“I think this is the worst scandal of my lifetime,” Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt told the newspaper.
“I think families have a right to be incredibly angry because generations of politicians, including me when I was health minister, have not acted quickly enough to resolve this scandal.”
He did not confirm the cost or financing arrangements of the compensation plan.
In 2015, former prime minister David Cameron apologized following a report into the impact of the scandal in Scotland. In 2017, under the leadership of Prime Minister Theresa May, the government announced a public inquiry.
It will publish its findings on Monday, after examining in particular the question of whether the treatments with contaminated blood should have been stopped earlier and whether there were attempts at a cover-up.
The government has already paid £100,000 in interim compensation to some victims, at an estimated cost of around £400 million, following a recommendation from the inquiry in 2022. (Reporting by William James, Editing by Bernadette Baum , French version Benjamin Mallet)
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