LONDON: Britain called for an international on Sunday Work on the issue of medical devices Like oximeters that work better on people with lighter skin, saying ethnic minority patients could die because of inequalities COVID-19 global pandemic.
health secretary Sajid Javido He said he has reviewed the issue after learning that oximeters, which measure blood oxygen levels and are important for assessing COVID patients, give less accurate readings for patients with darker skin.
“It’s arranged around the world. It’s almost a . racial bias In some medical devices. It is unintentional but it exists and the oximeter is a good example of that,” Javid said during an interview with the BBC.
Asked whether people would have died of COVID-19 because of this loophole, Javid said: “I think maybe yes. I don’t have the full facts.”
He said the discrepancies were because white-majority countries had a lot of medical equipment, drugs, procedures and textbooks put together.
“I want to make sure we do something about it, but not just in UK, This is an international issue so I am going to work with my counterparts around the world to change this.”
He said he had already spoken to his American counterpart about the issue, who was as interested in it as he was.
Javid said he discovered the problem after noting that people from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds in Britain were disproportionately affected by Covid-19.
He said that in the early stages of the pandemic, a third of Covid admissions to intensive care units were for ethnic minority patients, twice their representation in the general population.
health secretary Sajid Javido He said he has reviewed the issue after learning that oximeters, which measure blood oxygen levels and are important for assessing COVID patients, give less accurate readings for patients with darker skin.
“It’s arranged around the world. It’s almost a . racial bias In some medical devices. It is unintentional but it exists and the oximeter is a good example of that,” Javid said during an interview with the BBC.
Asked whether people would have died of COVID-19 because of this loophole, Javid said: “I think maybe yes. I don’t have the full facts.”
He said the discrepancies were because white-majority countries had a lot of medical equipment, drugs, procedures and textbooks put together.
“I want to make sure we do something about it, but not just in UK, This is an international issue so I am going to work with my counterparts around the world to change this.”
He said he had already spoken to his American counterpart about the issue, who was as interested in it as he was.
Javid said he discovered the problem after noting that people from black and other minority ethnic backgrounds in Britain were disproportionately affected by Covid-19.
He said that in the early stages of the pandemic, a third of Covid admissions to intensive care units were for ethnic minority patients, twice their representation in the general population.
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