£10k asbestos cancer pay-out

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/northern_ireland/7644565.stm

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An average of £10,000 will be available to sufferers of asbestos-linked cancer from Wednesday, the social development minister has confirmed.

Margaret Ritchie said the money will be given "within weeks" of mesothelioma being diagnosed.

It will be funded by recovery from successful civil compensation pay-outs.

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the lining of the lungs or abdomen. The time between diagnosis and death is on average about nine months.

A Department of Social Development spokesman said the money would be made available shortly after diagnosis, as patients may not live to see a civil compensation case being resolved.

"If a civil compensation claim is successful, the compensator pays back the money paid to the sufferer," he added.