Blood contamination in the UK: justice that never existed under the disaster

On May 20, local time, British Prime Minister Sunak issued a statement in London, England, after announcing the final report of the British infection blood investigation in the House of Commons, and publicly apologized for the huge scandal that has plagued the UK for half a century.

Sunak said that on behalf of successive governments since the 70s of the last century, he apologized to everyone affected by the incident, called this day a day of national shame for the United Kingdom, and promised that the British government would compensate the victims no matter what the cost. Starmer, the leader of the British Labour Party, also apologized at the scene, saying that the accident was one of the worst injustices in British history, and that the victims suffered unspeakable suffering.

Since the 70s of the last century, the NHS in the United Kingdom has used the injection of concentrated clotting factors to treat hemophilia. The clotting factor used for treatment comes from plasma, but because the supply of blood in the UK is in short supply, it began to buy plasma at a low price from the United States, however, there are many people living with HIV and hepatitis in these plasma, which is a huge hidden danger.

According to statistics, the incident caused at least 30,000 Britons to be infected with hepatitis C and HIV, including about 5,000 people with haemophilia, and was the biggest scandal in the history of the British public health system. The latest data indicate that as of 2019, a total of 1,350 people were infected with HIV during the event, with more than 1,000 deaths; About 26,800 people are infected with hepatitis C and at least 1,820 people have died from related diseases.

In July 2017, following sustained pressure from the British civil society and a petition signed by the leaders of the major political parties, then-Prime Minister Theresa May agreed to launch a nationwide investigation into the medical malpractice.

It wasn't until May 20 this year, with the official release of a six-year, more than 2,000-page investigative report and an apology from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, that the British people finally waited for the end of the coffin: all this could have been avoided. Although, by this time, about 3,000 people had died from the use of contaminated blood products, and 30,000 had contracted HIV and hepatitis C as a result.

In fact, in May 1983, the first case of AIDS infection in a haemophilia patient appeared in the UK. At this time, the problem of contaminated blood has gradually been exposed. However, despite the increasing number of AIDS, hemophilia and even children, the British government remained very tough, and the tragedy eventually occurred.

Data estimated by the British Haemophilia Society suggests that at least 710 victims of the blood contamination scandal have died between Theresa May's announcement of an investigation in 2017 and Sunak's recent public apology for the report.

On May 21, local time, Sunak's government announced a compensation plan to deal with what is considered the "worst medical disaster" in the history of the British public health system. Sunak assured that "we will pay whatever the cost of implementing the plan", and he also promised full compensation.

In fact, the truth of this tragedy was concealed for decades, eventually leading to a scandal that could have been largely avoided turning into a "bloody betrayal". Since 1993, staff in the UK health system have destroyed documents to cover up attempts to decontaminate blood.

The blood contamination incident in Britain has deepened into a veritable scandal due to the attitude of the authorities, and a catastrophe that has taken and destroyed countless lives. At present, although the British government has announced the compensation plan, there are still no government officials who are held accountable and brought to justice.

For the victims of this disaster, after more than 40 years of painful suffering from disease, their lives are already in danger. Thus, as the global public, especially victims and media personalities have pointedly pointed out, under the current political system, the so-called justice in Britain is not an issue that has been absent for decades at all, but has never existed.