‘Complacency’ risks crisis for ethnic minority medics

A CRISIS among ethnic minority medical staff may be being missed because of a lack of Covid-19 testing, a doctors’ union has warned as it accused the Government of “complacency”.

The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) called on ministers to investigate the “alarming” numbers of black and ethnic minority doctors who have died from the virus.

The union said increased testing of NHS staff would identify if certain groups are more vulnerable to Covid-19 and should be given priority for protective equipment.

Concerns have been raised after the first 10 doctors to die from Coronavirus were all from black, Asian and ethnic minority (BAME) backgrounds.

The latest mortality figures showed more BAME health workers have died in recent days from suspected Covid-19, including a nurse and mother-of-five Josiane Zauma Ebonja Ekoli, aged 55, and a Filipino nurse, Melujean Ballesteros, aged 60.

Dr Claudia Paoloni, president of HCSA, said: “There appears to be an unfortunate level of government complacency about an issue. The lack of detailed data means we are currently only able to hypothesise on the reasons why the first 10 doctors who died were from a BAME background.”

The HCSA said that potential reasons for a disparity could include genetic factors known to affect some ethnic communities more acutely or cultural factors, such as BAME doctors feeling less able to challenge NHS edicts that put them in unsafe situations.

Dr Paoloni added: “Much more testing of health workers with Covid-19 symptoms would help to identify trends not just in terms of ethnicity but also the areas of work and length of time spent among positive patients.

“Such data would be crucial in driving changes to working practices or PPE guidelines.”

A spokesman from the Department of Health and Social Care said: “As part of a continuous effort to reduce health inequalities, the Government will be working with PHE to look further into this.”