BAME doctors are ‘living in fear and panic’ due to dangers during pandemic

THE NHS must do more to protect Yorkshire’s BAME medical staff who are “living in fear and panic” by increased death rates from Covid-19, a senior doctor has said.

The British Medical Association

(BMA) said more than 90 per cent of doctors who died from the disease were black, Asian and minority ethnic people (BAME).

A report last week by Public Health England into why BAME individuals had the highest death rates from coronavirus highlighted that historical racism may make NHS staff less likely to speak up regarding concerns over personal protective equipment.

Speaking to

Dr Rajeev Gupta, a paediatric consultant in Barnsley and chair of the BMA’s regional consultant committee in Yorkshire, said he had been contacted by “at least 60” of his colleagues in the weeks since the death of Dr Medhat Atalla, a consultant geriatrician at Doncaster Royal Infirmary, from Covid-19 in April.

“One in particular was so frantic and panicked,” he said. “His daughter was shouting in the background, ‘don’t go to work’.

But that fear is not being expressed, because they feel no-one will listen to them.”

The feeling that they “must perform better” than white colleagues and cultural norms that prevent speaking out are also making it worse, Dr Gupta said.

He is calling on NHS trusts in the region to commit to proactively protecting BAME frontline medical staff, with increased PPE and redeployment of staff from minority backgrounds away from high risk roles. He added: “Coronavirus is not going away and we need a clear and tangible action plan to support BAME doctors.”

A Government Equalities Office spokesperson said work was being done to protect BAME communities from the impact of coronavirus. NHS trusts across the country have been asked to consider ethnicity in risk assessments, and work with trade unions to mitigate risk.