The British Medical Association has requested the UK government to publish the Public Health numbers about the number of coronavirus deaths among the Black and Asian Minority patients in the country. On Thursday, April 16, the government agreed on to begin an inquiry into the numbers and why they are affected more by the virus.
The head of the medical association requested the government to investigate the matter after the first ten doctors that died because of the coronavirus were black and Asian minority ethnic people. There is an urgent need to find the reason for 'if and why black, Asian and minority ethnic people are more vulnerable to COVID-19'. The doctors who died because of the coronavirus has origins from Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
There is an over-representation of the minority groups in critical care in the UK. But, with no data addressing the ethnicity of the patients who could have died because of the coronavirus, critics have said that this could lead to the belief that a problem doesn't exist.
NHS England and Public Health England will have a formal review which will address the disproportionate way in which coronavirus is affecting the ethnic communities but the government did not say what would the timeframe would be or what data would be provided.
The Impact on BAME individuals
According to Lord Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote, there is a devastating impact on the BAME individuals especially in England. The frontline workers are affected by the coronavirus because they are widely exposed to it and several of the frontline workers is said to be from the BAME communities.
Lord Woolley said that "Only with transparency of data and quick action from all relevant agencies will we save lives." According to Guardian, 53 NHS staff died because of the coronavirus and out of this 68 per cent were BAME individuals. It was reported that the people who passed away were 22 nurses, two porters, a radiology support worker, a patient discharge planner and a hospital bus driver. As per data, 44 percent of the medical staff were from ethnic communities.
