IF PM’S AIDE DOESN’T GO, I WILL, SAYS DOCTOR
A FRONT-LINE NHS doctor working in a coronavirus intensive care unit has said he will resign by the end of the week if Dominic Cummings has not quit by then.
Dr Dominic Pimenta said the prime minister’s senior aide has ‘spit in the face of all our efforts, the whole NHS’.
Urging the government to apologise, the cardiology registrar said the cabinet’s backing of unelected adviser Mr Cummings is a ‘betrayal’ and that NHS staff have been ‘insulted’.
Dr Pimenta tweeted that he had not seen his parents since January as he shared a picture of himself wearing protective equipment, adding if Mr Cummings ‘doesn’t resign, I will’.
And he vowed to announce his decision to quit by the end of the week if Mr Cummings is still in his position.
The doctor told the PA news agency: ‘I found it incredibly insulting to see the whole cabinet doubling down on this issue and undermining the public who are working incredibly hard to follow the guidance; it’s a betrayal.
‘NHS staff have bent over backwards to meet this incredible challenge, spending hundreds of extra hours in meetings and drawing up timetables to care for patients.
‘I do think it’s still early days yet, but I’ll give them until the end of the week for Mr Cummings to resign before I do.
‘I’m not trying to lead a movement, but I wouldn’t be surprised if more did the same.’ He added: ‘There needs to be an apology from the government. Cabinet members cannot continue to insult health workers like this; many feel incredibly disrespected, like all their hard work and energy has been thrown back in their faces.’
It comes after Boris Johnson was accused of risking the government’s efforts to combat the virus as he defended Mr Cummings at Sunday’s Downing Street press conference.
The prime minister caused uproar after claiming his adviser had ‘acted responsibly, legally and with integrity’ and that ‘any parent would frankly understand what he did’.