An independent public inquiry opened today into how the NHS gave thousands of haemophiliacs blood contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C.The inquiry, led by the Labour peer Lord Archer of Sandwell, will hear evidence from patients who are now terminally ill as a result of what has been described as "the worst treatment disaster in the history of the NHS".
More than 4,800 haemophiliacs in Britain were infected with hepatitis C, and 1,200 of those also contracted HIV after being given contaminated blood products in the 1980s and early 1990s, and many more are terminally ill.
More than 1,700 patients have since died, although around 380 haemophiliacs and 20 other patients given contaminated transfusions during surgery are still alive.
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