'Livid' Oldham GP responds to shocking life expectancy report
Date published: 02 July 2021
Oldham GP Dr Zahid Chauhan
A damning report revealing that the coronavirus death rate was 25% higher in Greater Manchester than in any other region may have caused surprise in some quarters.
But Oldham GP Dr Zahid Chauhan OBE says it is an inevitable consequence of a government that "couldn’t care less about the health of its poorer citizens".
Speaking in the wake of Sir Michael Marmot’s report, the local GP said that cuts to services, increasingly squalid living conditions, the closure of green spaces and affordable sporting facilities, polluted air, increased mental health issues related to debt and unemployment and even lack of accessibility to decent food has taken its toll on a region that has been forgotten by Boris Johnson’s administration.
Dr Chauhan is also 'livid' that it has taken a tragedy such as this to highlight poor health in the North – and other less affluent areas in the UK.
"Does it really have to take the appalling situation at Grenfell and now unnecessary deaths in the north west due to COVID-19 to get this government to do something about poverty?" said Dr Chauhan.
"They talk about levelling-up, but this is 2021 and people still exist in environments that are literally killing them.
"Because of Johnson’s government we do not even have a national health service anymore – rather a fragmented service that depends upon your postcode."
Dr Chauhan was one of the first people to speak-up when figures showed that people from BAME communities were contracting the coronavirus more than other groups.
"There were so many vacuous rumours put about for this tragedy," he continued.
"But the failure to give people proper education and approach them at the right time is not the reason for this.
"It is the delipidated multi-occupancy housing we live in, the air we breathe and the services that have been taken away from us that are causing this misery."
The founder of the Homeless-Friendly charity, Dr Chauhan is currently penning a book called COVID Stories, which features folks who have had Long Covid, contracted the condition in other countries, faced economic ruin because of the crisis and even lost loved ones.
Although their stories are very different, one thing connects them all – the impact of inequality.
"Behind every case of COVID-19, there is a human being, they are not merely a number," concluded Dr Chauhan.
"From birth to death they are affected by inequalities including inadequate nursery provision, education that is flawed because it cannot be backed-up at home, lack of opportunity, little or no mental health services and of course, ill-funded health provision.
"No wonder your chances of a long life are hindered if you are already frail, vulnerable or indeed from the supposed wrong area."
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