My concern over handling of crisis
AS a retired NHS Consultant I am gravely concerned with the appalling handling of our coronavirus crisis in the UK by our Prime Minister, Health Secretary and their Public Health advisers.
Despite repeated promises from all of them still we can not provide corona virus test for the front line NHS staff let alone their contacts and general public at large. Because of this today 25% of the doctors and nurses are out of circulation in isolation putting more severe pressure on the existing frontline staff. It would be extreemly difficult for other hospital staff let alone voluntery retired staff to step into their shoes easily.
Most of this would have been avoidable if a coronavirus test was made available to the most needed front line staff.
Public health advisers were initially taking about allowing herd immunity to develop and then Chief Scienctific Oficer Patrik Vallance resrted to preparing the national psyche to accept a total mortality of 20,000 in the UK as a good outcome!
When China with a population of 1.3 billion ( 20 times more than ours) restricted their mortality below 3500. Essentially we have not learned any lesson from Asian countries or even our European neighbour Germany who are doing about half a million tests per week keeping their mortality so far below 300. Why could we not do the same with the test kits available to date?
Moreover we have not paid any heed to WHO Director General who has been yelling at us “Test Test and Test” and also “Test, Trace and Treat”. Is WHO advice rubbish or irrelevant?
Now our Public Health department is trying to calm the nation down echoing our Brexit type slogan “No Test is better than a bad Test “with the promise of starting a more effective antibody test which is still developing in the lab!
Only last week Dy CMO Jenny Harries told that the UK mortality is about 1% of the positive cases . So with the current mortality of nearly 2500 there must be about 250,000 cases in the country vast majority of whom are with us in the community rapidly spreading the disease in the absence of contact tracing.
Govt and Public Health teams are quite rightly and repeatedly reminding us abut self-distancing but can they advise our NHS frontline staff and keyworkers how to keep 6ft self distancing in the over crowded underground trains and buses in London whilst travelling with large number of construction and non essential workers. Obviously front line NHS staff and key workers have so far seen only lip service , empty promises from the Govt and gimic of Health Secretary carrying a personal protection equipment( PPE) box for doctors and nurses before appearing on BBC TV in the morning .
Tweeks ago the Health Secretary promised 150 lorry loads were on the motorway to equip the hospitals in England with necessary protective equpment of WHO standard. But still today BMA and a vast number of front line staff are crying out in fear and despair for the lack of PPE which the nation will remember.
It is unforgivable that these front line staff with their predicament have been described as “canon fodder “and “lambs for slaughter” by some synpathetiic observers and professionals. Although we have lost the golden opportunity to prepare the nation to avert this crisis with lack of forward thinking and astute planning but the nation still begs not to destoy the NHS, our crown jewel at this dark hour of our generation.
Dr Asim Basu
Retired Consultant Physician and Cardiologist,
Rugby and UHCW Hospital Trust