Stevenson Calls For HEP C Inquiry

Banff & Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson has supported a motion in the Scottish Parliament calling for the Lib/Lab Executive to increase the amount of money available to those inadvertently infected with Hepatitis C through the blood supply, and also demands that the Scottish Executive establish a public enquiry into the whole Hepatitis C situation.

The Scottish Parliamentary motion has been put down following allegations that infected blood products may have been given to Scottish patients after 1995. Mr Stevenson, who has dealt with the cases of Hepatitis C sufferers, has signed the following motion:

S2M-426: That the Parliament recognises the valuable work of the former Health and Community Care Committee in its report on Hepatitis C (17th Report 2001) and its seven recommendations; notes that the scheme proposed by the Health Minister with a package worth in the region of £15 million falls far short of the recommendations of the independent inquiry team chaired by Lord Ross where payments would have totalled some £89 million; further notes that the inquiry team's figure is still well below settlements elsewhere in the world ; considers that the Scottish Executive's offer will be perceived as being hurtful, mean, unjust and insulting; notes that there are substantial unresolved issues regarding the probable prescribing of known infected blood products until as late as the mid 1990s; further notes that there are issues surrounding the effectiveness of the subsequent prescribing of "synthetic" Factor 8 products, and considers that the Scottish Executive should review its offer to comply with the recommendations of Lord Ross's inquiry and instigate a public inquiry now.

Commenting after adding his support to the motion. Mr Stevenson said:

"I am aware of a number of local people who were inadvertently infected with Hepatitis C through contaminated blood products, and, for the most part, their health has been suffering for a number of years. Now it would appear that the ex-gratia payments that the Scottish Executive is proposing to make by way of restitution are vastly inferior compared to the package that was recommended by the Executive's own independent inquiry team.

"In addition, the latest allegations that contaminated blood products have been used in Scotland since 1995 are very, very worrying. It is clear that this whole state of affairs requires to be investigated, in order to restore the people's faith in the integrity of the blood supply. For this reason, I am supportive of calls for a public inquiry into this critical matter."