A HAEMOPHILIAC who got hepatitis C due to being infected by bad blood has condemned the Goverment after he was refused compensation.
There will be a £130 million boost for people who got either hepatitis or HIV after being treated with contaminated blood that was bought from prisoners in the US by the NHS in the 1970s and 1980s.
But Mike Kenwright, from Grappenhall, will not see a penny of the Skipton fund as his condition, which is classed as stage one and has caused him pain and suffering for most of his life, was not considered serious enough.
The 61-year-old said: “I won't receive any this money. This package has alienated and excluded most of the victims of the biggest disaster in the history of there NHS.
“Nine hundred people will be included in the new package, leaving about 2,500 victims to live with the hepatitis C infection without any Government help. I have lived with the virus destroying my body for years. I lost my employment, I am uninsurable and I am on daily pain relief. In financial terms this virus has proved devastating for myself and my family.”
Currently, anyone with chronic stage two hepatitis C receives a one-off payment of £20,000. A further £25,000 is paid if the disease progresses to more severe disease such as cirrhosis or liver cancer.
The new measures outlined for those with severe infection included an annual payment of £12,800, for those with the most serious hepatitis C, in line with those infected with HIV and increasing the one-off payment from £25,000 to £50,000.
The only way for Mr Kenwright, who lives on Chester Road, to prove how badly hepatitis has ravaged his body is by undergoing a liver biopsy.
He added: “I will receive nothing until I can prove that hepatitis is destroying my liver and the only reliable way to do this is by undergoing a liver biopsy. This procedure will put my life in real danger from blood loss.”
Warrington South MP David Mowat said: "There is an also an extent to which no amount of money can ever put right what went wrong.
Thousands of people have had their lives wrecked by a product which was supposed to help them and they have been shabbily treated for far too long.
"This package does provide extra support to those who are the most seriously ill. For those with advanced conditions, it eliminates the discrimination that used to exist between those who had contracted HIV and those who were left with hepatitis C.”
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