A British Chinese junior doctor has received support from senior NHS chiefs, MPs and the public after a patient refused to be treated by him because of his race.
Dr Alex Lee revealed on Twitter that he had personally experienced the anti-Chinese racism that has surfaced during the coronavirus pandemic.
“Had my first patient refuse to see me because I’m Chinese. Insisted on a White team. Seniors were amazing and stood up for me; the zero tolerance was made clear. Still a really bitter pill to swallow…” he said.
Dr Lee, who trained at King’s College London, received an outpouring of support on the social media platform after revealing how he’d been treated.
Professor Stephen Powis, NHS England’s medical director and its most senior clinician, praised the junior doctor and his colleagues for their reaction to the incident.
Prof Powis told HuffPost UK: “Racism in any form is completely unacceptable and NHS leaders and frontline staff are right to challenge and report such incidents so that a zero tolerance approach is taken.
“The new NHS Race and Health Observatory has been established to identify and help tackle the specific challenges facing people from BAME backgrounds.”
Care minister Helen Whately said: “It’s awful to hear about Dr Alex’s experience – racist behaviour has no place in our NHS.
“Anyone who suffers or witnesses discrimination should report it and NHS organisations must take action. I am glad to hear that colleagues supported Dr Alex in the face of the unacceptable discrimination he experienced.
“During the greatest public health crisis in a generation, our NHS and social care staff – doctors, nurses, cleaners, porters, mental health teams, ambulance crews, care workers, all the diverse parts of this incredible system – have been at the heart of our national effort.
“We must stamp out racism and make the NHS a truly great place to work irrespective of who you are or where you’re from. Our People Plan sets out our strategy for doing exactly that and I’m determined to see it put into practice across the country”
The most recent figures show that 2,757 doctors of Chinese heritage work in the NHS at all grades and are part of the racially diverse workforce on why the servicer relies.
Sarah Owen, a British Chinese Labour MP whose mother is an NHS nurse, told HuffPost UK: “The pandemic has lifted the lid on racism against Chinese, East and South East Asian people in the UK which has existed for far too long.
“We’ve seen racism and conspiracy theories spread unchecked on Twitter and Facebook, East and South East Asians have been subjected to increased attacks, been the butt of senior politician’s jokes and the media have used us as the face of Covid 19 – this has serious consequences and enough is enough.”
Owen, who led an urgent Commons debate last week on the topic of racism suffered by people from south east Asia, added: “There is no excuse for Covid related racism. The Government need to now do more than condemn it, we need to see action.
“Ministers should be working with our communities and supporting anti racist organisations, they should get tougher with social media companies and news outlets which spread racism and when we rightly criticise the Chinese state for their human rights atrocities, we must do so in a way which does not make communities here feel more vulnerable or fair game for racists.”
Tory MP Alan Mak, the first British MP of British-Chinese heritage of any party when he was elected in 2015, said: “Our NHS staff like Dr Lee are working very hard, and attacks against them is abhorrent.
“The zero-tolerance approach to racism shown by Dr Lee’s senior NHS colleague is welcome, and sends a strong message that we all have a duty to stand up to discrimination.”
Dominic Pimenta, a hospital doctor and chairman of the Healthcare Workers Foundation, said: “Racism has been a long-term issue within the NHS on many levels – between staff and patients, between staff and at a management level as well.
“While the trend has historically been mercifully in the right direction as an organisational culture, we continue to see incidents, especially around significant events in the general public, Brexit for example and now more recently Covid.
“We continue to maintain a zero tolerance policy but it is incredibly disheartening that in a time of such stress on healthcare workers, especially those of BAME background who are particularly at risk, racist incidents such as these persist.
“Although thankfully very much the minority, we should all be doing our utmost to stamp out attacks on NHS workers, and challenging these attitudes wherever we find them.”
The public and fellow health professionals rallied round Dr Lee on Twitter, with 54,000 people sharing his story.