The Government is to give £20 million to victims of thalidomide and will apologise for their suffering.
According to Sky news, the Department of Health intends on paying the money to the Thalidomide Trust over a period of three years.
Thalidomide is a drug that was provided to pregnant women in the 1950s and 60s as a treatment for morning sickness or insomnia. Unfortunately the drug was found to have disastrous side effects, including limb malformation and defects. There are 463 surviving victims of the drug in the UK and the money will provide much needed financial security for thalidomide victims. The money will go towards providing victims with the adaptations that they require in their everyday lives, be these wheelchairs or car adaptations or even alterations to houses.
The drug was manufactured in the UK by a company called Distillers Biochemicals, and they paid a total of £28 million in compensation during the 1970s to compensate families who were affected by the drug.
The thalidomide saga is a terrible blight on the UK’s medical history, and the Government were one of the agencies to endorse the drug and fast tracked the drug to the health service, where clearly further tests were necessary to establish the side effects of it. This payout finally indicates the Government has accepted the role that they had to pay in the distribution of the drugs in this country and will help hundreds of victims obtain some closure on the issue and move forward with their lives. However, it must be said that it is shocking that it has taken the Government over 50 years to acknowledge the role they played in causing these injuries and that the Thalidomide Trust, which was formed back in 1974, has campaigned magnificently to gain justice for the victims.
