Fury over minister's hepatitis C delaying tactics

MALCOLM Chisholm, the health minister, was last night accused of delaying compensation payments for patients infected with the hepatitis C virus after being given contaminated blood products.

Victim support groups said the minister was attempting to "kick the issue into the long grass" until after the next election, when it would be harder than ever to press for payments.

The attack came in the wake of Mr Chisholm’s refusal to make an immediate commitment to an 89 million funding package recommended by an expert group last week.

Victims have been further incensed after a meeting between the minister and MSPs on the health committee was put back from 4 December until 11 December.

Bruce Norville, founder of the Manor House Group, a UK-wide campaigning group, said Mr Chisholm’s tactics were "despicable". He said: "It is outrageous that the minister is continually trying to get out of paying money to anyone by stalling for time over and over again.

"It has taken us years to get to a situation where the expert group agreed that we should have compensation, but now we see the minister trying to delay this whole process yet again."

Mr Chisholm last week accepted the principle of the Executive making payments to victims who have suffered long-term harm, but stressed there were complex medical, legal and financial considerations to be taken into account before a final decision is taken.

The minister has also admitted that the scale of the funding package and the effect it would have on an already hard-pressed NHS was one of the major issues he would need to investigate.

However, Philip Dolan, the chairman of the Scottish Haemophilia Group Forum said Mr Chisholm was "fudging" the issue. He said: " We believe there should not be a problem with a health budget that has already been underspent."