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UK government taken to court over PPE guidance discrepancy by Indian-origin doctor couple

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Loveena Tandon    23 May 2020

An Indian-origin doctor couple has took the UK government to court over a discrepancy in the Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) regulation that was given to the British National Health Service (NHS) and was prescribed by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr Meenal Viz, a clinical associate in medicine, and her general practitioner trainee husband Dr. Nishant Joshi have questioned the UK government on what basis are their guidelines on, and where is the scientific evidence to state that it is acceptable to be changed in certain settings. One more question they had asked that why British manufacturers were not involved in the procurement of PPEs?

Dr. Meenal Viz told India today TV that they had asked them to respond within 48 hours, as if they respond within that timeline then they could change policies. They can work on changing certain things and protect more healthcare workers. However, it has been 4 weeks. They just received the response from the government stating that they won’t release their statements or letters to the public. Dr. Viz who is currently eight months pregnant said that and it is evident that they are trying to hide something from all. In a case about transparency, there is no transparency. They are going to the next step and file proceedings for a judicial review.

Since the beginning of March, PPE shortages was present but the more disturbing part, is the guidelines were changed according to the shortages and not according to the science.

The truth of this matter came when a pregnant nurse, Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, contracted the coronavirus infection and died after delivering a baby boy. This had happened when advice for pregnant women wasnt clearly given.

Dr. Viz didnt know the nurse properly but she attended her funeral and the sight of her funeral shook her. She said Mahatma Gandhi had said once: Gently you can shake the world. And those words echoed a lot in her. She said that the funeral gave her a bigger picture of what is happening around. Thousands of deaths are happening. She saw one funeral where family members were grieving to an extent where they couldn’t physically move their bodies. They were on floor crying as they had lost their loved one in a senseless manner.

Dr. Viz said that she has written a letter to her unborn baby girl, Radhika, “just in case” describing the suffering of fighting while being pregnant. She said that the scariest thing for her is when her child comes into this world and when she is old enough to understand about this pandemic and if she says to her mother, What did you do? and if she has nothing to answer her, then that day would be the biggest embarrassment for her.

A statement released by the doctor couple said that the government continues to avoid transparency as to the risks medical workers who are facing with different levels of PPE and confirmation and they are entitled to refuse to work if they consider the risks are too high. They should be entitled to agreement with WHO guidelines for all of their work. The government might be facing operational pressures, but it is nothing as compared to the pressures and risks that are faced by frontline health care personnel with inadequate PPEs.

Estelle Dehon, a lawyer on behalf of the couple, said that this case is about safeguarding frontline health and social care employees and ensuring that they have the minimal protections as required to work as safely as possible. What the government calls acute shortages of PPEs, there still remains some baseline protections which the government should respect. The WHO guidelines are intended to maintain those protections in spite of acute shortages of PPE and the government has not explained the reason it has taken a different method causing high risk for frontline workers.

A crowd funding page has also been set up by the couple to raise funds for the costly legal expenses and protect them from any consequence from the case. The couple are fighting so that families like Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapongs don’t have to suffer silently in future. If they win this case, the funds collected will be used for the welfare and benefit of such families.

Source: India Today

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