Dr Kailash Chand lived a 'life of service to his patients and fellow doctors'

AN award-winning former Tameside GP and leading NHS campaigner, Dr Kailash Chand OBE, has passed away at the age of 73.

His son Dr Aseem Malhotra said on Twitter his father had suffered a cardiac arrest on Monday evening (26).

Dr Chand was one of the most influential Asian doctors in the UK, as he was vocal while highlighting inequalities in the healthcare system.

He was the first Asian to be elected as deputy chair of the powerful British Medical Association Council (BMA), which represents 150,000 doctors in the UK and was regularly included among Britain’s top 50 most influential GPs in the annual ‘National Pulse Power List.’

In the GG2 Power List 2020-2021, published by the Asian Media Group, which also prints Eastern Eye and Garavi Gujarat news weeklies, Dr Chand is ranked 78 in the list of 101 most influential British Asians.

Dr Chand was born in 1949 and spent his childhood in Shimla, the capital of the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh. The eldest of five children, he was raised by his mother (a housekeeper) and his father (who was an employee of the Indian Railways).

He came to the UK as a junior doctor in the late 1970s. Although he took pride in working for the NHS and saw the positive impact of easy-access healthcare, he also faced discrimination and racism on frequent occasions.

In a comment piece for Eastern Eye published last week (July 23), Dr Chand wrote, “As a GP trainee in a white practice, patients refused to be seen by me. Once I qualified to be a GP, I struggled to get any partnership and allowed myself to be exploited as a salaried doctor with bare minimum wages. Even when I was in senior positions in the NHS and the British Medical Association (BMA), I continued to suffer from institutional racism.”

He also revealed he wanted to be a paediatric consultant, but was told “bluntly that this speciality is not for International Medical Graduates (IMGs).

“I was advised by well-meaning white senior doctors to either choose a less popular speciality like geriatrics/ psychiatry/ accident & emergencies, or pick up a career in general practice.”

During the pandemic, Dr Chand frequently spoke about the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities.

He made regular appearances on television news programmes and also took part in roundtables on healthcare conducted by Eastern Eye.

In June last year, he told this paper, “Black, Asian ethnic minorities are very good to do all kinds of things, except leadership,” referring to how Asian and black people were dying needlessly and disproportionately because they were not being represented in senior ranks of the NHS.

“They are good enough to die, but they are not good enough to lead. Even today, things are going backward, not going forward.”

Along with several other health leaders, Dr Chand urged the government to investigate the disproportionate impact on BAME communities and the reasons behind it.

Prompted by the calls to action, the government equalities office agreed to address Covid-19 health equalities in a quarterly report.

Dr Chand received an OBE in 2013 for his services to the NHS. He was a senior fellow of the BMA and was named ‘GP of the Year’ by the Royal College of General Practitioners.

More recently, he was appointed honorary professor of health and wellbeing by Bolton University.

He was also trustee of the homelessness charity Greater Manchester Mayor’s Charity.

Health campaigners, doctors’ groups and politicians all paid tribute to him following his sudden death on Monday.

The BMA said, described him as a “staunch defender of the NHS” and said his was a “life of service to his patients and fellow doctors”.

The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) said they would “miss his unparalleled wisdom, kindness and his #lessonsoflife.

“He passionately campaigned to make the NHS a better institution and been one of the most inspirational medical leaders of our time.”

Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said, “Heartbroken about the sudden loss of my dear friend, Kailash. He was everything to me and the NHS was everything to him.

One of the kindest souls ever to have walked this earth. You gave me so much and your legacy will live on.”