Sinn Féin MLA Colm Gildernew has welcomed the release of £1m funding by Minister of Finance Conor Murphy to the Department of Health to alleviate the hardship suffered by patients diagnosed with Hepatitis C or HIV after receiving contaminated blood.

Colm Gildernew said:

“I welcome this progress and the minister’s allocation of an additional £1 million to address the shortcomings of the Infected Blood Payment Scheme. 

“Last week, we heard harrowing testimony from victims of the Health Service contamination blood scandal in relation to the suffering they endure.

“This increased funding will help to lessen that burden faced by victims. 

“As Chair of the Health Committee I look forward to working with victims’ groups in supporting their campaign to achieve parity of payments with England in line with the commitments made in the New Decade New Approach deal.”