On Sunday, Britain urged international adressal of an issue concerning medical gadgets such as oximeters, which perform better on those with lighter skin, claiming that the disparities may have cost ethnic minority patients their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said that he had commissioned an assessment of the issue after learning that oximeters, which measure blood oxygen levels and are critical in assessing COVID patients, provide less accurate readings for patients with darker skin.
‘This is a worldwide problem. There is a racial bias in some medical devices. It’s unintended, but it exists, and oximeters are a prime example,’ Javid stated during an interview with the BBC.
When asked if individuals died from COVID-19 as a result of the fault, Javid said: ‘Yes, I believe so. I don’t have all of the facts.’
According to the health ministry, the evaluation will strive to identify where systemic bias and danger exist in present devices and to recommend how the issues should be addressed in the construction of medical devices from design to usage.
It stated that it aimed to present preliminary findings by the end of January.
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