It caused the death of 3,000 and infected 30,000 with a “life-destroying” infection,“The contaminated blood scandal” shakes the United Kingdom

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The final report of the investigation into the UK's "tainted blood scandal" was published on Monday, after nearly six years of research, which caused thousands of injuries and deaths from tainted blood transfusions.

In the 2,527-page report, it is revealed how tens of thousands became infected with HIV or hepatitis from contaminated blood transfusions and contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.

The Inquiry into Infected Blood found the government and NHS guilty of covering up decades-old procedures that led to tens of thousands of people becoming infected and some 3,000 dying.

The report concluded that more than 30,000 people acquired “life-destroying” infections with HIV and hepatitis through blood transfusions during surgery, or through products made using blood plasma and imported from the United States to treat patients with hemophilia (a rare disorder that causes... Blood clots normally due to a lack of proteins needed for blood clotting.

According to the report, in the 1970s and 1980s, thousands of people who needed blood transfusions, for example after childbirth or surgery, were exposed to blood contaminated with hepatitis, including a then unknown type of liver infection that was later called hepatitis C. , and human immunodeficiency virus.

Those suffering from hemophilia became exposed to what was sold as a revolutionary new treatment derived from blood plasma.

In the United Kingdom, the National Health Service, which treats the vast majority of people, began using this new treatment in the early 1970s. It was called Factor VIII, and it was called the wonder drug.

Demand soon outstripped domestic sources of supply, so health officials began importing Factor VIII from the United States, where a high percentage of plasma donations came from prisoners and drug users who were paid to donate blood. This has greatly increased the risk of plasma contamination.

Factor VIII was made by mixing plasma from thousands of donations. In this pooling, one infected donor may put the entire pool at risk.

Sir Brian Langstaff, who chaired the inquiry, said the disaster was "largely avoidable, and should have been entirely avoided", but successive governments and other officials "did not put an end to the disaster, nor put patient safety first".

The investigation into the scandal found that patients were lied to about the risks and, in some cases, became infected during research conducted without their consent, or, in the case of children, parental consent. There were also delays in informing patients of their infection, extending for years in some cases. Evidence was also deliberately destroyed.

Politicians, doctors and civil servants were accused of compounding the immeasurable suffering of patients and their loved ones so that “the truth was hidden for decades.”

John Glen, the Cabinet Office minister handling the scandal on behalf of the government, refused to rule out criminal proceedings, saying: “If there is clear evidence and there is a path to it, then it is clearly something the government will have to address. I can’t be sure, but We have to give these people justice."

Ministers are expected to announce a compensation package for victims worth more than £10 billion, while Prime Minister Richie Sunak is set to apologize on behalf of the government.