Thread by @thesundaytimes

Exclusive: Thousands of ethnic minority patients who died from Covid-19 might have survived were it not for racial bias in medical equipment

Now, the US and UK plan to overhaul international medical standards and test equipment on all races thetimes.co.uk/article/sajid-…

Analysis of data from Public Health England showed that deaths from Covid-19 among people from minority ethnic groups were 2-4x greater than those among the white population in England

In response to this, the health secretary Sajid Javid is working with his US counterpart, Xavier Becerra, to introduce new international medical standards

It will ensure medical devices have been tested on all races before they are allowed to be sold

It follows research showing that oximeters – which monitor oxygen levels in the blood and are used to assess whether Covid patients need life-saving treatment – are less accurate on people with darker skin

“At the height of the Covid peak last winter, Black, Asian and other minority ethnic groups made up 28% of critical care admissions in England.” writes Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid)

“The issue of bias within medical devices has been ducked for far too long.”

“The possibility that a bias - even an inadvertent one – could lead to a poorer health outcome is totally unacceptable.”

“We urgently need to know more about the bias in these devices, and what impact it’s having on the frontline.”

“The review will look at all medical devices, and other important biases like gender bias. For example how we can ensure lifesaving technologies like MRI scanners can be made accessible to pregnant or breastfeeding women.”

Analysis 🔍 | When the first Covid wave swept across Britain’s shores last year, it exposed an ugly secret within our society and our health system

The surge did not strike us equally; those from black and Asian backgrounds were hit far harder
thetimes.co.uk/article/racist…

The way the health system is set up - both in Britain’s NHS and across the global medical sector - is tilted against those who do not happen to be white

Of the first ten doctors killed by Covid, nine were from ethnic minorities

This is most strikingly seen in the design of pulse oximeters

Used in every ward in every hospital in Britain, they are fundamental to the monitoring and diagnosis of patients

Yet despite their ubiquity, oximeters do not work as well for patients with dark skin

Researchers at the University of Michigan in the US last year found 12% of black patients who were considered to have safe oxygen levels were in fact dangerously hypoxic

Likewise, there may be a “white skin bias” in medical training, with rashes and diseases are only ever described in textbooks and lectures in terms of their appearance on pale skin

Better, more precise, treatments and technologies, utilising the best our scientists have to offer, would spell an end to the inequalities in our health system

It would, in fact, benefit us all
thetimes.co.uk/article/sajid-…