"UK PM Issues Heartfelt Apology for Infected Blood Scandal Cover-Up"

The UK Prime Minister has issued a heartfelt apology for the cover-up surrounding the infected blood scandal. The apology acknowledges the suffering of the victims and their families, aiming to address the long-standing impact of the scandal and the government's role in the concealment.

London, United Kingdom: On Monday, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued an apology to the thousands affected by contaminated blood in a scandal spanning decades, which a critical report revealed had been covered up and could have been largely prevented. The Infected Blood Inquiry found that over 30,000 individuals contracted viruses like HIV and hepatitis from tainted blood administered in Britain between the 1970s and early 1990s.

The victims included individuals requiring blood transfusions due to accidents or surgeries, as well as those with blood disorders such as haemophilia who were treated with donated blood plasma products, and the partners of those infected.

Approximately 3,000 people have died, and more fatalities are expected, in what is considered the largest treatment disaster in the eight-decade history of the state-run National Health Service (NHS).

"I am truly sorry," Sunak stated to the House of Commons, labeling the findings of the long-awaited report as "a day of shame for the British state."

"Time and again, people in positions of power and trust had opportunities to halt the spread of these infections but failed to act," he added, pledging to provide compensation to victims "whatever it costs."

The total compensation package, to be announced on Tuesday, is expected to exceed 10 billion pounds ($12 billion).

Pervasive

The report, spanning over 2,500 pages, exposed a "catalogue of failures" with "catastrophic" effects on victims and their families.

In certain cases, children with bleeding disorders were used as "objects for research."

At one school, 122 pupils with haemophilia received infected blood products between 1970 and 1987, and only 30 survive today, the report revealed.

"I have to report that it could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided," concluded Judge Brian Langstaff, the report's author.

His team discovered that successive governments and health professionals failed to mitigate risks, even though it was evident by the early 1980s that AIDS could be transmitted through blood.

Blood donors were not properly screened, and blood products were imported from countries like the United States, where drug users and prisoners were among the donors.

The report also noted that many transfusions were given unnecessarily.

Efforts to conceal the scandal included instances where health department officials destroyed documents in 1993.

"Considering the NHS and government response overall, the question 'Was there a cover-up?' can be answered affirmatively," the report stated.

It clarified that the cover-up was not an orchestrated conspiracy by a few individuals, but a more subtle, pervasive, and chilling concealment of the truth.

"In this way, much of the truth was hidden," the report added.

'Vindicated'

In addition to the 3,000 patients who died, many others were left with lifelong health problems.

Judge Brian Langstaff described the scale of the tragedy as "horrifying" and noted that the victims' suffering was worsened by repeated denials and false assurances that they had received proper treatment.

When the truth was eventually revealed, often years later, it was sometimes done in "insensitive" and "inappropriate" ways.

"This disaster was no accident. People trusted doctors and the government to keep them safe, and that trust was betrayed," Langstaff told reporters.

Former Prime Minister Theresa May initiated the inquiry in 2017, which became one of the country's largest.

Campaigners praised the report as the culmination of a decades-long struggle but lamented that it came too late for many victims who will never see justice.

Andy Evans, chairman of the Tainted Blood campaign group, called the report "momentous" and said he felt "validated and vindicated."

"We have been gaslit for generations... Sometimes we felt like we were shouting into the wind during the last 40 years," Evans told reporters.

Source: NDTV