More than forty years after the first alerts about contaminated blood, the British government apologized on Monday May 20 to the more than 30,000 victims of the scandal. The latter received a transfusion of blood contaminated with hepatitis C viruses, HIV, or both at the same time, between the 1970s and 1990s. It is estimated that more than 3,000 people died as a result of this. exposure to contaminated blood.
The apology from the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, was prompted by the findings of a public survey carried out for seven years. “This disaster was not an accident”according to former judge Sir Brian Langstaff and chairman of the commission of inquiry, which helped establish responsibilities in this health scandal.
Financial compensation will be added to the government’s official apology. The total amount paid to victims could reach £10 billion, or around €11 billion. This would be the highest amount of compensation ever paid by the British state.
In this video, we explain to you, based on the public inquiry carried out in the United Kingdom, how such a health crisis could take place and who allowed it.
And if you want to know more on the subject, we refer you to the article below.
“Understand in three minutes”
The explanatory videos that make up the “Understand in three minutes” series are produced by the Vertical Videos department of the World. Broadcast primarily on platforms such as TikTok, Snapchat, Instagram and Facebook, they aim to put major events into context in a short format and make the news accessible to everyone.
Contribute
Reuse this content
The contributions area is reserved for subscribers.
Subscribe to access this discussion space and contribute to the discussion.