THE Scottish Government will face calls to "fully" compensate patients who were infected with contaminated blood treatments following the publication of a long-awaited public inquiry.
Patrick Maguire, a lawyer representing the victims, said the report, due to be published today(wed), was an important step on the road to ensuring the degree to which patients had suffered was properly recognised.
The government has commissioned a scoping exercise looking at the impact of the disaster, which is due to report soon.
It is thought this will inform any changes to the financial support victims have received so far.
In the 1970's and 1980's hundreds of people in Scotland were infected with Hepatitis C and HIV after being treated with products made from donated blood or receiving blood transfusions. Among them are at least 350 people with a blood disorder, such as haemophilia. Many of those infected have died.
The SNP established the inquiry following repeated calls for an investigation into what went wrong and it was launched six years ago. The chairman, retired judge Lord Penrose, will not be present at the launch because he is seriously ill in hospital.
Mr Maguire said: "The public inquiry was fought for long and hard. It took a lot of work by a lot of great campaigners over a long period of time. There is a very big burden on Lord Penrose's shoulders."
However, he continued: "As important as the report is, it is another albeit significant step in terms of the wider campaign which is about properly recognising the suffering people have experienced and serving the families in their campaign for proper and full compensation.
"We need to see what is in the report and take our lead from that, but it will thereafter be firmly resting at the feet of the Scottish Government to fully compensate people for their suffering."
Bill Wright, the chairman of Haemophilia Scotland, was infected with Hepatitis C while receiving routine treatment for his haemophilia in 1986.
He said: "Too many people have been injured by the national health service that they were seeking help from.
"It affects everyone's daily lives. Many families have suffered and I have lost far too many friends from this."
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