Shanghai police broke up a small press conference organised on April 20 by 37 haemophiliacs and their family members who contracted the HIV or Hepatitis C viruses via unsafe blood products.

Three foreign reporters who attended the meeting were released by police after questioning but Chinese participants have remained under surveillance, according to legal advisers to the group.

Kong Delin (孔德麟), head of the informal self-help group, China Haemophiliacs’ Home, says that more than 100 haemophiliacs from across the country contracted HIV or Hepatitis C around 1995 after using Factor VIII, a blood product made by the Shanghai Institute of Biological Products (SIBP). This is part of the China National Biotech Corporation, a large state-owned enterprise that develops and markets biological products in China. SIBP stopped producing Factor VIII in 1995, in compliance with regulations introduced by the Ministry of Health, but did not stop selling the product until 1996.

The 37 haemophiliacs and their relatives, all non-Shanghai residents, gathered in Shanghai on April 17, World Haemophilia Day, to advance their claim for compensation from SIBP.

Some 60 Shanghainese haemophiliac patients have each received CNY 100,000 (USD 12,500) cash payments and monthly CNY 1,000 allowances from the Shanghai Red Cross. According to Kong Delin, the funds originated from SIBP, who channeled the money through the Red Cross.

This is the fifth time that the compensation claimants have organised events to promote their claim.

Report by Tina Qian, April 25 2006