The Haemophilia Society is calling on the Government to start the New Year with a commitment to hold a wide ranging public inquiry into the medical disasters of the 1970s and 1980s caused by NHS use of contaminated blood products. A total of 4,865 people with haemophilia in the UK were infected with hepatitis C and 1,250 were also infected with HIV between 1979 and 1985.
It has been described as one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the NHS - and yet no official public inquiry has ever been carried out.
Margaret Unwin, chief executive of the Haemophilia Society said: "Holding an inquiry would enable people with haemophilia to have access to all of the information about the tragedy and be assured that nothing is being withheld.
"This is particularly important as we have heard from the Government that important documents relating to the whole tragedy have been destroyed, or misplaced. Additionally, an internal review by the Department of Health into self sufficiency in blood products in England and Wales between 1973 -1991, which was expected to throw some light into the matter and to be published in 2005 has still not appeared. We now hear that it will be published in 2006, although it will be interesting to see how comprehensive it is, bearing in mind the Government's reported loss of documents.
"A commitment to hold a public inquiry would show that the Government has nothing to hide and is willing to let all of the information about how the tragedy came about be released into the public domain."
The Society is writing to the Health Minister Patricia Hewitt to request that a public inquiry is held.
Margaret Unwin added: "An inquiry will not only help to ensure that such a tragedy never happens again, but will also help give a sense of closure to people with haemophilia who were affected by blood borne viruses in this way."
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