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.
Bell's RBI single in 10th lifts Marlins to 3
Mars probe Tianwen 1 leaves Chinese mark on red planet
China's Mars rover accomplishes planned exploration tasks
China gathers pace in integrating new technologies into transportation sector
US Open champ Coco Gauff urges young Americans to vote
Cloned arctic wolf makes debut in NE China's Heilongjiang
8th China (Shanghai) International Technology Fair kicks off
Caitlin Clark returns for 2nd half against Sun after apparent left leg injury in 1st half
Chinese business group slams EU probe into trainmaker
Australia as Bangladesh vow to boost trade as foreign ministers meet in Dhaka
China State Shipbuilding Corp wins world's first ammonia