Tuesday 22 June was commemorated as the third Windrush Day nationally- a day when over 500 migrants from the Caribbean arrived by Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in Essex in 1948. Legend has it, that many people who arrived in the UK on that day went on to experience racism and discrimination and often found it hard to get a proper home to live in, make friends with British people and deprived of citizenship rights. Ironically and unfortunately, many years later, history seems to repeat itself.
Thousands of frontline workers who came to the UK from different countries and paid with their lives during the pandemic are now being threatened in a racist and irresponsible attack by Tory peer Baroness Dido Harding who has “vowed to end England’s reliance on foreign doctors and nurses if she becomes the next head of the NHS.”
As per the House of Commons Library, 170,000 out of 1.3 million NHS staff say their nationality is not British, amounting to almost 14 per cent of the workforce. Furthermore, Baroness Harding will tell the NHS board that she would resign from the Conservative Party if she won the role and take an indefinite leave of absence from the House of Lords, two steps she has so far resisted.
When the Windrush generation arrived in the UK, most of them left behind burnt houses, little or no money and were desperately in need of work. Many had served in the British Army during WWII.
The BBC reported, “It wasn't always easy for the new arrivals to get jobs. Some companies said they didn't want black people to work for them. Later, many of their children were bullied at school because of the colour of their skins. Some of them suffered racial attacks and in later years there were riots in cities across Britain.”
Sajid Javid, the then Home Secretary had announced that - after a review of 11,800 cases - 18 members of the Windrush generation who could have been wrongfully removed or detained would get a formal apology from the government. He also said that anyone who had left the UK would also be helped to return. The then PM Theresa May went on to apologise to Caribbean leaders and had reassured them that no one from the Windrush generation will have to leave the UK, mentioning that the Windrush migrants were “part of us”.
This year, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said, “It’s important that this Windrush Day we remember the enormous contribution the Windrush generation has made to all of our lives. They have helped to shape our city and our country, and this must never be forgotten or undervalued. Yet two years after the launch of the compensation scheme, many of the Windrush generation and their families have still not received payment and are still struggling to access the advice and support they need. It’s vital that the Government does much more to make this process easier so that families can finally see justice.”
According to a report published by The Times, Baroness Harding of Winscombe would challenge the “prevailing orthodoxy” in government, that it is better to import medical professionals from overseas and benefit from the investment of other countries because of the huge cost of training a doctor.
Social media saw protests from medical professionals and organisations after Harding’s comment.
Honorary Vice President of BMA Prof Kailash Chand, OBE tweeted: “Dear @MattHancock, Medical regulators are “institutionally racist” & view ethnic minority doctors as easy targets for disciplinary action for decades. The NHS is heavily reliant on doctors who have qualified overseas. Dido’s solution is to get rid of foreign doctors, what is yours?”
Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman Dr John Puntis told The Morning Star: “Not recognising the importance of the huge contribution made to the NHS by staff from other countries is no surprise given that she views the failed, privatised test and trace a success story. “We need leaders who are insightful, steeped in the experience of working within the NHS and have a public-sector ethos with a determination to fight for a fully funded public service based on its founding principles. It is difficult to think of a worse appointment than Baroness Harding.”
Good Morning Britain presenter Adil Ray defended foreigners on ITV and said, “In the 1950s and 60s Britain had no choice but to ask doctors in India and Pakistan to come to this country to save the NHS. They stood up in parliament and said the NHS would collapse if it wasn't for migrant doctors. Those migrant doctors have held up this country, have held up the NHS. They are British, and as soon as somebody comes to this country to work here they are then British. This idea that we should talk about 'our own', who are our own?"
“Migrant NHS workers risked their lives to keep our country going during the pandemic and this is Dido Harding’s response?” said the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants in a post on social media. “We need better pay, conditions and respect for our NHS workers — regardless of where they were born — not xenophobic dog-whistling,” it added.
Renowned consultant urologist Omer Karim has told The Times that the General Medical Council is institutionally racist. The interview also mentioned that in its ruling vindicating Karim, the employment tribunal said, “UK graduate [ethnic minority] doctors are 50 per cent more likely to get a sanction or warning than white doctors”
No intention of insulting the ethnic community
Coming to Baroness Harding’s defence, Lord Rami Ranger, CBE told Asian Voice, “I welcome Baroness Harding’s aim to make Britain self-sufficient in producing homegrown talent to fulfil jobs within the health sector. However, I feel it is an impossible task that will take at least decades to achieve. Health personnel need to study at least 6 to 7 years for doctors and at least 3 to 4 years for nurses. Besides, educated British staff may look to work in Europe, America, Australia etc., for higher benefits.
“I don’t think her statement is aimed at insulting the BEM community. The community has been recognised for performing a remarkable service to the public during the pandemic. Many have unfortunately lost their lives, saving others. Every politician like to have lofty aims; whether they can fulfil them or not, only time will tell.
“The UK India partnership does not depend on just one issue. It depends on cooperation and collaboration on multiple topics such as defence, security, terrorism, trade, tourism, and cultural exchanges etc. The UK partnership is significant for both countries as both are liberal democracies with the rule of law at the heart of their governance.”
While Dr Ramesh Mehta, OBE, President of, British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin said that Baroness Harding is ethically right, he emphasised that NHS cannot survive without foreign doctors. “UK saves half a million pounds by importing ready-made doctors from developing countries,” he said. “Since Dido is applying for the top NHS job, it may be her political posturing. However, the NHS can’t survive without foreign doctors. She has certainly antagonised foreign-trained doctors in the NHS who provide sterling service and stood by the NHS during the Covid disaster, even risking their lives. We hope, the Baroness will resist from making rash statements”
Retract unhelpful comments
Lord Navnit Dholakia, OBE and Deputy Leader of the Lib Dems in the House of Lords said, “I deplore the comments about making NHS less reliance on foreigners. This smacks of confused thinking about the contribution of foreign doctors and staff sustaining the National Health Service since it was first set up. Successive governments have relied on their contribution, and they were prominent in recruitment from Commonwealth countries. Nowhere this has been more obvious than the recent coronavirus crisis here. Many have paid for their lives despite the seriousness of the epidemic.
“The recent discussions about the Trade Agreement make it clear that suitably highly qualified people from the sub-continent will have priority to enter the United Kingdom. It is about time that we had an apology from Dido Harding. Our country cannot make medical advancement without the help of foreign doctors and medical staff. The soft xenophobia expressed in her comments will further put off doctors from providing their services and will be resented by our diverse community here. India has been very clear in that if you want to trade with us then ensure that our highly qualified people are suitably employed in the UK.”
Preet Kaur Gill, MP for Edgbaston in Birmingham said, "The latest comments from Baroness Harding are appalling. For decades, our NHS has been made up of hardworking doctors and nurses from all walks of life. It is these same workers that have courageously looked after us, as our country went through a deadly pandemic. To now turn round and say they aren't welcome is intolerable. The fact that it takes 10 years to train a GP and 14 to train a surgeon, suggests Baroness Harding is trying to create division. With the huge shortfall of doctors and nurses, the Government's focus must be on addressing this, not attacking those who were at the frontline of the pandemic and who lost their lives whilst protecting us.
“Over the last year, we saw what happened in the US with George Floyd. I'm proud that our country rose up and thousands of people across Britain protested the institutional racism that is present in the UK. This is another blatant example of that, and we can't stand by and allow it to happen.”
Cllr Krupesh Hirani AM, Labour and Co-operative Party London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow told Asian Voice, “Dido Harding’s comments are completely unacceptable and wholly disrespectful to our NHS workers who have sacrificed so much for all of us, especially over the pandemic period. Ironically, Government decisions such as the extortionate rise in tuition fees and previous cuts to nursing bursaries have contributed to the NHS recruitment crisis. Dido Harding should retract the unhelpful comments and the Government should distance itself from these comments immediately.”
In a statement, BMA leader Dr Chaand Nagpaul said, “The BMA strongly believes that the nation’s public health medicine service should be truly public, [and] completely independent of political influence. It must be able to operate with full transparency to advise the government, inform the public and do its work, which is so vital to the health of the nation.”
Meanwhile, Labour has called for the appointment process of the new chief executive of NHS England to be transparent, based on merit, and without undue political influence. In a letter sent to Cabinet Secretary Simon Case on 19 June, Labour’s shadow health minister Jonathan Ashworth also called for the process to be “free from the cronyism that has existed over the past year.”
Official figures show that 14% of NHS staff are non-British, with a large proportion of workers arriving from Ireland, India and the Philippines. According to workpermit.com, a retired nurse and President of All Pakistan Nurses Association APNA-U, Zeba Arif, said: “On behalf of overseas nurses who have contributed selflessly to the National Health Service, especially throughout the pandemic, I believe Baroness Harding’s statements of intent are not only crass but downright disgraceful and deeply disrespectful. She appears to be inhabiting a parallel universe and seems sublimely unaware of the sacrifices ‘foreign’ healthcare professionals have made just to be employed! To begin with, they (and their families) have to pay an immigration health surcharge of £470 per person per year,” she added.
