|
Posted on 06/11/2002 1:31:45 PM PDT by BLOODHOUND (askel5)
| Haemophiliacs from the North-East are today due to lobby the Government for a public inquiry into how infected blood products were allowed to be used in the NHS.
Haemophilia Action UK, based in Jesmond, together with the Manor House Group from Birmingham, will today meet with Public Health Minister Yvette Cooper.
They hope to persuade her to reopen investigations into how 4,500 haemo-philiacs became infected with HIV and hepatitis C.
Led by Newcastle's Carol Grayson, whose partner Peter Longstaff is infect- ed with both viruses, the group wants all the information from the 70s and 80s re- lating to the importation of infected blood products from America to be made public.
They will also lobby the Government for compensation for the thousands of haemophiliacs and their families who have suffered as a result of treatment given to them on the NHS.
Last night Ms Grayson, who has campaigned tirelessly for justice for haemo-philiacs over the past seven years, said the aim was to keep the pressure on the Government.
"It is our intention to present the Dep- artment of Health with some of the evidence we have that shows steps could have been taken to prevent a medical disaster of this magnitude," she said.
"If commitments made by former health ministers had been kept then the number of haemophiliacs becoming infected with hepatitis and HIV would have been greatly reduced and people would not be suffering now.
"This is our chance to put the facts to Ms Cooper and press for some answers." The Journal, together with Haemophilia Action UK, has been campaigning for a public inquiry into the Bad Blood Scandal for almost three years.
A commitment for the UK to become self-sufficient in blood products by 1977 from the then health minister Lord David Owen was not honoured and the NHS has continued to use imported products from the US.
Of the 95 North-East haemophiliacs who became contaminated, 78 have since died from their infections.
Last night, a Department of Health spokeswoman said she could not comment on the meeting beforehand.
"In order to make these blood products successfully in the 1970s - preserving the active clotting factors - it required the pooling of plasma donations. This is still the case and pool size, while it has reduced over time, remains in the thousands. By the time viral inactivation technology was introduced in the mid-1980s, almost all people with haemophilia receiving treatment had unwittingly been infected," she said.
"We have great sympathy for the people affected but Government policy remains that compensation, or other financial help to patients, is only paid when the NHS or individuals working in it are at fault."
The group will meet Ms Cooper this afternoon at the House of Commons.
|
|
|
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.