LONDON: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday apologized after a public inquiry report submitted to the government accused Britain's state-funded National Health Service (NHS) of covering up a 1970s infected blood scandal. Asked.
Speaking in the House of Commons hours after inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff delivered his scathing verdict on the issue, the British Indian leader said it was "a day of shame for the British state" after a list of failings, including An attitude of denial was recorded. check.
The scandal involves more than 30,000 people who were infected with life-threatening viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C while they were in NHS care between the 1970s and 1990s, and more than 3,000 who died.
Addressing the victims and their families, Sunak said, “I find it almost impossible to understand how this must have felt…I do not want to apologize wholeheartedly and unequivocally.,
"On behalf of this and every government of the 1970s, I'm really sorry," he said, as he pledged to compensate everyone "no matter what the cost."
The scandal involved contaminated batches of Factor VIII, an essential blood clotting protein that hemophilia patients do not produce naturally, that were imported from the US and widely used to treat patients at the time. Was used extensively. They were infected because blood was not tested for HIV/AIDS until 1986 and hepatitis C until 1991 in Britain.
“The scale of what happened is horrific. The most accurate estimate is that more than 3,000 deaths are caused by infected blood, blood products and tissues, Langstaff said in his report after a five-year investigation."Standing back, and looking at the response of the NHS and the government, the question to be answered is 'was there a cover-up?' That's what happened. It's not that the sense of a conspiracy by a handful of people is misguided, but in a way that was more subtle, more widespread, and more sinister, it's the implications of it to save face. A lot of truth has been hidden for.
The 2,527-page and seven-volume document details the sheer scale of the scam and also makes a number of recommendations, including an accelerated compensation scheme for those directly affected and those who lost loved ones as a result. The report also calls on the NHS to ensure that anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1996 is immediately tested for hepatitis C.Patients new to medical practice should also be asked whether they have had a blood transfusion before that time.
The report also highlights the approach to the scandal under the Conservative Party government led by Margaret Thatcher, which insisted that people were given "the best treatment available" at the time.
“The reality is that the use of this blanket line – sometimes applied to the condition of people with bleeding disorders, sometimes applied to all people infected with hepatitis C from blood or blood products – was inappropriate. I was wrong and its use was unacceptable. This became a mantra and was never questioned.,
“An apology should not only provide some detail about what is being apologized for, but it should also provide action to ensure that the people to whom it is addressed will find it sincere and meaningful. Compensation is part of this,” it further said.
Two groups of people were caught up in this historic health scandal of contaminated blood – people with hemophilia and similar blood clotting disorders, who received a new treatment just in time to replace missense clotting agents made from donated human blood plasma. And the second group which was. Blood transfusion after delivery, accident or during medical treatment.
Ministers in the Sunak-led government have promised to address the issue of final compensation after the investigation's report is published, the total cost of which is likely to be in the billions of pounds.
Speaking in the House of Commons hours after inquiry chairman Sir Brian Langstaff delivered his scathing verdict on the issue, the British Indian leader said it was "a day of shame for the British state" after a list of failings, including An attitude of denial was recorded. check.
The scandal involves more than 30,000 people who were infected with life-threatening viruses such as HIV and hepatitis C while they were in NHS care between the 1970s and 1990s, and more than 3,000 who died.
Addressing the victims and their families, Sunak said, “I find it almost impossible to understand how this must have felt…I do not want to apologize wholeheartedly and unequivocally.,
"On behalf of this and every government of the 1970s, I'm really sorry," he said, as he pledged to compensate everyone "no matter what the cost."
The scandal involved contaminated batches of Factor VIII, an essential blood clotting protein that hemophilia patients do not produce naturally, that were imported from the US and widely used to treat patients at the time. Was used extensively. They were infected because blood was not tested for HIV/AIDS until 1986 and hepatitis C until 1991 in Britain.
“The scale of what happened is horrific. The most accurate estimate is that more than 3,000 deaths are caused by infected blood, blood products and tissues, Langstaff said in his report after a five-year investigation."Standing back, and looking at the response of the NHS and the government, the question to be answered is 'was there a cover-up?' That's what happened. It's not that the sense of a conspiracy by a handful of people is misguided, but in a way that was more subtle, more widespread, and more sinister, it's the implications of it to save face. A lot of truth has been hidden for.
The 2,527-page and seven-volume document details the sheer scale of the scam and also makes a number of recommendations, including an accelerated compensation scheme for those directly affected and those who lost loved ones as a result. The report also calls on the NHS to ensure that anyone who received a blood transfusion before 1996 is immediately tested for hepatitis C.Patients new to medical practice should also be asked whether they have had a blood transfusion before that time.
The report also highlights the approach to the scandal under the Conservative Party government led by Margaret Thatcher, which insisted that people were given "the best treatment available" at the time.
“The reality is that the use of this blanket line – sometimes applied to the condition of people with bleeding disorders, sometimes applied to all people infected with hepatitis C from blood or blood products – was inappropriate. I was wrong and its use was unacceptable. This became a mantra and was never questioned.,
“An apology should not only provide some detail about what is being apologized for, but it should also provide action to ensure that the people to whom it is addressed will find it sincere and meaningful. Compensation is part of this,” it further said.
Two groups of people were caught up in this historic health scandal of contaminated blood – people with hemophilia and similar blood clotting disorders, who received a new treatment just in time to replace missense clotting agents made from donated human blood plasma. And the second group which was. Blood transfusion after delivery, accident or during medical treatment.
Ministers in the Sunak-led government have promised to address the issue of final compensation after the investigation's report is published, the total cost of which is likely to be in the billions of pounds.