Apology for blood infection victims

THE Scottish Government is expected to apologise today to thousands of people infected with deadly diseases by donated blood.

An estimated 4,000 Scots were given contaminated blood in the 1970s and 1980s taken from high-risk donors such as prisoners and prostitutes.

Many died after contracting hepatitis C and HIV, while other patients, including women who received blood transfusions after giving birth, are still living with the conditions.

Today the results of the Penrose Inquiry into one of the NHS’s worst disasters will be released.

Sources close to the inquiry said Scottish Ministers will issue an apology after the report is made public.

Victims of the tainted blood scandal said they would welcome this after three decades fighting to find out why they were infected.

Gill Fyffe, 55, contracted Hepatitis C after a blood transfusion following the birth of her first child.

Mrs Fyffe, who moved f rom Edinburgh to live in London eight years ago, said: ‘What happened to me changed the course of my life and my family. I cannot work and we had to sell our home and rent a flat.’

The mother-of-two suffered from chronic fatigue. She had no idea why, until seven years after her transfusion, a letter told her she may have been given contaminated blood.

Mrs Fyffe has been left with autoimmune disease, which she claims was caused by the drug Interferon alpha and which has left her cripplingly sensitive to light.

The hearings commenced on March 8, 2011, and finished on March 30, 2012. It is believed warning letters have been sent to those facing criticism.

Across Britain, 2,000 people are reported to have died, many of them haemophiliacs who needed frequent transfusions and blood products.

Bill Wright, chairman of Haemophilia Scotland, said: ‘I think there will be anger and tears when the report comes out. It is the moment we have waited decades for.’