London, Thanasis Gavos

The ‘biggest disaster’ in the history of the British NHS health system with contaminated blood transfusions to 30,000 patients in the period 1970-1991 “it was not an accident’, it was ‘preventable’ and exacerbated by “discreet, pervasive and chilling” cover-ups, concealment and deception by politicians, doctors and other relevant authorities.

This is the core of the long-awaited finding of the independent seven-year inquiry into the scandal which claimed the lives of nearly 3,000 people, who were given blood contaminated with viruses, mainly hepatitis C and HIV.

The finding, which runs to 2,527 pages, was announced at midday in London by the head of the inquiry Sir Brian Langstaff.

“This disaster was no accident. The patients’ trust was betrayed,” said Sir Brian, adding that this disaster was made worse by subsequent concealment of the truth by doctors and authorities. “I therefore recommend the immediate payment of damages,” added the experienced judge, presenting the conclusion.

Unnecessary transfusions were often given

His finding refers to the use of contaminated blood products for a new treatment of hemophiliacs. The blood plasma had been imported from the US despite warnings that donors included high-risk individuals such as drug addicts and prison inmates.

He also notes that in the second category of affected patients, that is people who needed a transfusion due to complications in childbirth, accidents or other treatments, blood from the UK was used, but for two decades it was subject to inadequate safety checks.

“The decision-makers did not set patient safety as the first priority”, reports the finding. It also reveals the deliberate destruction of some critical documents in the case by workers at the Ministry of Health.

It is emphasized that the patients were exposed to danger “knowingly” of the doctors, that some of the diseases from which patients were at risk were known even in 1970, that unnecessary transfusions were often given, that even schoolchildren were in effect used as “research subjects” and experimental animals, that successive governments and NHS managements avoided acknowledge the mistakes that had been made, often giving “inaccurate or misleading” excuses.

In his recommendations, Sir Brian, in addition to reparations, calls for memorials to be erected for the victims and testing for hepatitis C all those who received blood before 1996;

Relatives of victims and victims demanded in a press conference immediately after the publication of the finding an apology and compensation from the government, but also an apology from specific people in positions of responsibility involved in the scandal, as well as from the pharmaceutical companies involved.

Later this afternoon in an emergency statement to the House of Commons Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is expected to express the government’s deep regret, apologizing for the tragic mistakes made in this scandal.

A record compensation package of up to £10 billion is expected to be announced.

The investigation that concludes today with the announcement of the finding began in 2017 at the behest of then Prime Minister Theresa May. The final report anyway will be submitted to the government in the coming months.