Hospital denies 'institutional racism'

25 February 2006 05:59

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital last night strongly denied suggestions it was guilty of "institutional racism" after sacking two Asian doctors.

The hospital dismissed the two trainee doctors last year, claiming they were "incompetent". They were reinstated following an internal appeal hearing during which the hospital admitted there had been flaws in the way the pair had been sacked.

After the sackings, the British Association of Phys-icians of Indian Origin (BAPIO), which backed the doctors, branded NHS trusts in East Anglia as "institutionally racist".

But last night, this was denied by the hospital.

N&N spokesman Andrew Stronach said the problems were down to a poor medical training scheme sending them sub-standard medicine graduates, and that senior doctors had genuine concerns the trainees did not meet the standards they expected.

"Any suggestion that the dismissal was the result of racism is outrageous and totally without foundation. The trust's paramount concern is always the safety of patients and that is the reason why the two doctors were dismissed," he said.

"The doctors did not meet competencies but we did not know this when they came to the trust because they recruited under this foundation programme. There are important questions about this recruitment process that need to be considered."

He said the doctors would not be going back to work at the N&N, but they were free to find jobs elsewhere in the NHS.

Dr Ramesh Mehta, president of BAPIO, said he had written to health chiefs raising his concerns.

"We are not happy at all about what happened at the hospital and we want to find out why the doctors were sacked in the first place - it is very upsetting for them.

"The association is extremely worried. Over the last few months we have had about 30 phone calls from doctors around the country who have had some sort of disciplinary action taken against them.

"This seems to be a particular problem in the eastern region at moment. It points to institutional racism in the NHS and that is why we have got the Commission for Racial Equality involved."

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