London, Thanasis Gambos

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak described Monday as a “day of shame for the British state” reacting to the landmark finding on the scandal of contaminated blood transfusions in the NHS health system.

The conclusion of an independent, multi-year inquiry led by Judge Sir Brian Langstaff called it a “preventable disaster” and accused politicians, doctors and other officials of a “cover-up”.

Over 30,000 patients were transfused with blood contaminated with hepatitis C and HIV viruses between 1970 and 1991. About 3,000 of them have died. The transfers in most cases were made with the knowledge of the risks by the doctors and the authorities but with the knowledge of the patients.

In an emergency statement to the House of Commons, Mr Sunack spoke of “decades of moral deficit at the heart of our national life”, accepting responsibility from the NHS, the state apparatus, politicians and successive governments.

Referring to the following of the most remarkable and “inconceivable” findings of the investigation, Mr Sunak issued a “wholehearted and unreserved apology for this terrible injustice”.

Responding to the request of the survivors and relatives of the victims, the British Prime Minister became more specific and noted that this apology is given for the failure of the system to protect all these people by taking the required security measures, for the “repeated failure” of the state and the doctors to recognize the suffering they caused and finally for the “institutional denial” to take responsibility for these mistakes or even worse for the attempt to deny and cover up.

“This is an apology from the state to every person affected by this scandal. It didn’t have to be this way. It was never supposed to be this way. And part of this and every government stretching back to the 1970s, I am truly sorry,” Mr Sunak said.

He concluded his statement with two pledges: the payment of full compensation (“whatever it costs…we will pay”) and careful study of Sir Brian’s recommendations.

The current leader of the official opposition party also offered his own apology on behalf of Labor governments. “There is only one word: sorry,” said Sir Keir Starmer.

The research 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 people such as drug addicts and prison inmates.

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