AFTER decades of campaigning, the decision to hold a public inquiry into what has been dubbed the biggest treatment disaster in the history of the NHS was welcomed by the victims who were infected with HIV and hepatitis C through contaminated blood.
Last week it was a very different story as the publication of the final report was met with anger and accusations of a "whitewash".
The chair of the inquiry Lord Penrose, apportioned no blame for the tragedy and did not conclude that the infection of nearly 3,000 people in Scotland with HIV and hepatitis C from blood transfusions and products used to treat bleeding disorders could have been prevented.
But what the final report of the inquiry - which runs to five volumes - does document is a series of shocking revelations about the events which led to the disaster. The scale of the suffering is also laid bare with the harrowing stories detailed in the report - such as a mother who unwittingly infected her young son with HIV believing she was giving him the best treatment for haemophilia.
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