Oldham GP: Time to administer some support to the country who saved our healthcare

Dr Anita Sharma

A GP who has helped to raise £32,000 in just TWO DAYS to fund life-saving medical equipment for India, now wants British people to dip into their pockets - and aid a country whose medics have saved thousands of lives in poorer areas in the UK.

Dr Anita Sharma has joined other physicians of Indian heritage from the British International Doctors Association, in raising the emergency funds. But she also believes we should all donate what we can in honour of those GPs and surgeons who have made up for the shortfall of British-born doctors by coming from India and caring for those in neighbourhoods where nobody else would.

"Britain made desperate pleas for help during the 1940s and 1950s for qualified medics to come here and Indian doctors rallied to that call and indeed opened-up new practices in the most impoverished areas of the UK," said Dr Sharma. “Those doctors have been amongst the most professional and innovative that the NHS has ever seen, staging nurses in GP practices for example.

"We have all seen the heartbreak that COVID-19 has reeked in India. Perhaps now is the time for UK based people to respond to that cry for help?”

The second wave of Coronavirus has resulted in 200,000 deaths in India, with oxygen and other medications in perilously short supply.

Dr Sharma has her own views on why COVID-19 has spread so virulently in her native country: "I do question how lax the government has been in imposing lockdowns and with no furlough scheme available, I can see why low-paid workers are risking their health to earn money. Large gatherings at religious festivals haven’t helped much, either.

"I think these are salient lessons for the rest of the world to learn and those who have opposed social distancing and lockdowns can now see how easily the virus transmits.”

Rotary Rochdale has already raised £1000 to aid the campaign, while BAPIO (British Association Physician of Physician of Indian Origin) is also garnering funds to source 200 oxygen concentrators for India.

"I think you can ask questions of the Indian government and wonder about the wisdom of allowing a lucrative competition like the Indian Premier League to continue literally yards away from where thousands of people are dying" concluded Dr Sharma.

"But now is not the time for blame or indeed suggest that this is just someone else’s problem. GPs from India came to Britain because they had a special affinity with the country but also because they cared. Now it is our turn to step-up."

Do you have a story for us? Want to tell us about something going on in and around Oldham? Let us know by emailing news@oldham-chronicle.co.uk , calling our Oldham-based newsroom on 0161 633 2121 , tweeting us @oldhamchronicle or messaging us through our Facebook page. All contact will be treated in confidence.