A report is due on the UK's infected blood scandal, the country's worst public health disaster
Britain’s government is expected to apologize as an inquiry is expected to publish a final report into the U.K.’s infected blood scandal
LONDON (AP) — Britain's government is expected to apologize on Monday as an inquiry is to publish a final report into the U.K.'s infected blood scandal, which saw tens of thousands of people infected with HIV and hepatitis after being given contaminated blood and blood products from the 1970s to early 1990s.
An estimated 3,000 people are believed to have died and many others were left with lifelong illnesses in the scandal, widely seen as the deadliest disaster in the history of Britain’s state-run National Health Service since its inception in 1948.
The inquiry is to publish its findings Monday after campaigners fought for decades to bring official failings to light and secure government compensation. Over the past four years the inquiry has reviewed evidence from more than 5,000 witnesses and more than 100,000 documents.
The inquiry heard estimates that more than 30,000 people, including hundreds of children, were infected with HIV or hepatitis C, a kind of liver infection, from contaminated blood or blood products provided by the public health system.
