UK infected blood scandal: Bombshell report points out ‘catastrophic’ failures, and cover-up
Blood infections UK
More than 50 years after the first victims received infected blood in the United Kingdom, a public enquiry has concluded that there might have been a "cover up".
The bombshell report, released on Monday (May 20), found that 30,000 haemophiliacs or transfusion recipients, who were infected with HIV and/or hepatitis C over more than two decades could "largely, though not entirely, have been avoided".
'Catalogue Of Failures'
The more than 2,500 pages long report, as per AFP, laid bare a "catalogue of failures" with "catastrophic" consequences for victims and their loved ones.
Between the 1970s and early 1990s, more than 30,000 people were infected due to infected blood. Of them, over 3,000 died in what is being described as the biggest treatment disaster in the eight-decade history of the state-run National Health Service (NHS).
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Cover-up job
The Infected Blood Inquiry report authored by judge Brian Langstaff found that there were deliberate attempts to conceal the scandal. They reportedly also found evidence that government officials in 1993 destroyed documents.
"Viewing the response of the NHS and of government overall, the answer to the question, 'Was there a cover-up?' is that there has been," said the report, adding, "Not in the sense of a handful of people plotting in an orchestrated conspiracy to mislead, but in a way that was more subtle, more pervasive and more chilling in its implications."
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"In this way there has been a hiding of much of the truth," it added.
Langstaff, as per AFP, commented that the "scale of what happened is horrifying".
"I have to report that it could largely, though not entirely, have been avoided," he concluded.
Compensation for the victims
Apart from the over 3,000 that died due to the infected, many others were left with lifelong health problems.
It is expected that a compensation worth billions of dollars will be announced by the government on Tuesday (May 21).
(With inputs from agencies)