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Appeal on record race payout
Steve Hammond31/ 5/2004
A MANCHESTER surgeon has spoken of his bitterness over a
decision by his union to appeal against record £1 million damages
they have been ordered to pay him.
The British Medical Association (BMA) recently made a £130,000
settlement at the start of a Manchester tribunal hearing involving
five doctors - Fahtima Farook, Sheedhar Vaidya, Samir Ghost, Vijay
Jadhav and Vanilla Berea.
The five were to argue that the BMA's refusal to represent them in
claims of racial discrimination against their NHS employers
amounted in itself to racial discrimination.
In a statement on the settlement the BMA insisted they were not
admitting racial bias but had offered the money to avoid a lengthy
and costly hearing.
But despite this climb down the BMA is to press ahead and challenge
the £1 million damages awarded to Dr Rajendra Chaudhary in the
Court of Appeal.
Dr Chaudhary, who trained in India, claimed he was repeatedly
passed over for promotion when he was practicing as a urologist at
North Manchester General Hospital while British-born colleagues
were allowed to progress.
He accused health chiefs of racial discrimination and asked the BMA
to represent him at an employment tribunal.
But the BMA refused claiming there was not a good enough chance of
success.
Dr Chaudhary then fought and won his own case against the
Department of Health and then took the BMA before a tribunal
claiming the organisation racially discriminated against him by
refusing him representation. This prolonged action resulted in a
tribunal awarding the Dr Chaudhary the £1 million.
After hearing the news that the BMA were going to appeal he said:
"They have already destroyed my career and my livelihood.
"This failure to change their policy is not in my interests, as a
member of the BMA, or in the interests of the members in general
whose money is being wasted on these cases, and certainly not in
the interest of justice."
He added:"I have not had a penny yet. This has been a horrible
ordeal. I don't want this money to live a life of luxury I want it
because I have lost my livelihood. The stress of this case has
undermined my health. My doctors say I am unable to return to work
in the medical profession."
The BMA claim that in settling with the five doctors they were not
admitting racial discrimination against them.
In a statement the Secretary of the BMA, Jeremy Strachan, said:
"Although the BMA was advised that we had good defences in all of
these cases, we welcome the opportunity to draw a line under them
in view of the potential adverse publicity, costs and uncertainty
that inevitably characterise litigation of this kind."
He added: "We believe that this settlement is in the interests of
all our members and will allow us to focus on demonstrating the
BMA's commitment to equal opportunities for all doctors."
But the doctors' lawyer, Ghazan Mahmod, said the BMA had a "closed
mind" when it came to racial discrimination. He said his clients
claimed the BMA had subconsciously or consciously adopted a policy
of not supporting doctors alleging racial discrimination in the
NHS.
The BMA now face five more cases of alleged racial discrimination
brought by Asian doctors.
In March the deputy chairman of the BMA's consultants committee,
Nizam Mamode, resigned accusing the body of institutional
racism.
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