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Hepatitis C diagnosis delayed is same as denied

by Medindia Content Team on Apr 13 2006 8:26 PM

According to a lawyer hundreds of patients who contracted Hepatitis C in the 1980s had to wait up to 20 years before learning of their condition. This is same as delayed is denied.

In a statement criticizing the Scottish Blood Transfusion Service ,Frank McGuire, after studying documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act said, the service relied on "pure chance" to find and advise patients and that some had infected their partners.

During the 1980s doctors became aware that some patients were being infected with a new blood-borne virus. A test for what became known as Hepatitis C was developed in 1991.

Using the medium of BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland programme, Mr McGuire said 84% of his clients said they were never called in or notified of their infection.

"My concern is they only found out by sheer coincidence and there must be a lot of people out there who don't come back to hospital who have Hep C. What he should do is just look at the evidence, forget the politics and let's look at the people who may be infected by Hep C who don't know,” he said.

Professor Ian Franklin, medical director for the SBTS, said the "look-back" policy started in Edinburgh in 1991.

In a statement, Mr Kerr, health ministry said he was "satisfied that the NHS staff responsible acted appropriately and in the best interests of patients".

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