LONDON (AP) — Victims of the U.K.'s infected blood scandal, in which tens of thousands of people were infected by contaminated blood or blood products provided by the public health service, will start receiving their final compensation payments this year, the government said Tuesday.
Officials announced the compensation plans a day after the publication of a report that found civil servants and doctors exposed patients to unacceptable risks by giving them blood transfusions or blood products tainted with HIV or hepatitis from the 1970s to the early 1990s.
The scandal is seen as the deadliest disaster in the history of Britain’s state-run National Health Service since its inception in 1948. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday apologized for the “decades-long moral failure at the heart of our national life.”
The report said successive U.K. governments refused to admit wrongdoing and tried to cover up the scandal, in which an estimated 3,000 people died after receiving the contaminated blood or blood products. In total, the report said about 30,000 people were infected with HIV or hepatitis C, a kind of liver infection, over the period.
Microsoft's AI chatbot will remember everything you do on a PC
Autonomous driving vehicles start commercialized demonstration operation in S China
Chinese carriers allowed to operate more flights to U.S.
US users oppose possible ban on TikTok
Protesters against war in Gaza interrupt Blinken repeatedly in the Senate
Unmanned strike aircraft shows its mettle
NEVs help China to top auto exports
3D printing expo displays high
Devers sets Red Sox record by homering in his 6th consecutive game
China launches new remote sensing satellite
Election 2024: Nikki Haley faces a key decision on whether or not to endorse Trump
Industrial chain sharpens China's edge