§ Sir Russell JohnstonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements have been made by each of the Governments of the 12 European countries to arrange for compensation to haemophiliacs accidentally infected with the AIDS virus through contaminated blood transfusions, listing the actions taken, country by country, including the United Kingdom.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyHaemophiliacs were infected through the use of blood products such as factor VIII and not through ordinary blood transfusions. The information available to us about schemes set up by governments in the European Community countries is set out in the table. The hon. Member may wish to contact the embassies concerned for full details.
Payments for people with AIDS or HIV in other countries Denmark
Government have provided ex-gratia payments totalling 250,000 Danish kroner (about £25,000) for each person infected with HIV through blood products or blood transfusions.Eire
Government have provided £million for a trust for haemophiliacs infected with HIV.France
Government are providing a fund which will pay an average of 100,000 French francs (about £10,000) to haemophiliacs who have developed clinical AIDS.United Kingdom
Government are providing £29 million to the Macfarlane Trust to provide assistance to haemophiliacs with HIV and to their dependants.We do not know of any Government schemes in other Community countries. [In the Federal Republic of West Germany we understand that the insurers of the manufacturers of blood products have made out-of-court settlements averaging 80,000 deutschmarks (about £27,000).]