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Relatives in justice fight
More than 300 families in the North West who lost loved ones to hepatitis C contracted from contaminated NHS treatment are still fighting for their tragedy to be recognised.
In 2004 the Government announced the Skipton Fund, which made payments to people with hepatitis C who had contracted the virus through blood transfusions and treatment for haemophilia.
But the fund only paid out to those who died after August 29, 2003.
Those who lost relatives before this date have received nothing.
Hepatitis C is a virus which attacks the liver, often leading to liver cancer or cirrhosis. It usually takes between 20 and 30 years to reach this end stage, but can progress much more quickly.
The UK Government has refused to hold an independent public inquiry into the contaminated blood disaster, which left 4,670 people with haemophilia infected with HIV and hepatitis C.
However, an independent public inquiry is currently investigating the circumstances and is expected to report in the coming months.
David Fielding, a committee member of Haemophilia Society North West, said: "I had hepatitis B and C and I had a brother who died of HIV in 1990.
"I have been campaigning with the North West group to get justice for those who have received nothing. There are a lot of people out there who are suffering."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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