The money lost to profiteering from the pandemic should be recovered for the NHS, the Doctors’ Association UK (DAUK) told national radio listeners.
Dr Steve Taylor, DAUK spokesperson, said doctors were angry that people made excessive profit at a time of national emergency through the sale of PPE at inflated prices and that did not meet medical requirements.
Dr Taylor, a GP based in Manchester, was speaking to LBC News over the developing PPE scandal.
He said: “I can’t believe the mess we’re in. We’ve lost so much money as a result of all of this.
“I think back to 2020, when I was busy trying to rescue patients from Covid with very limited PPE at the time, the thought that anyone would actually make a profit out of it – it was a national emergency.”
He added: “Companies went out of the way to provide PPE and actually that PPE was inadequate, and that’s a big issue.
“As doctors, we’re all a bit angry.
“We’re angry at the amount of money that’s currently needed in the NHS and has been lost. This was the NHS budget fundamentally.”
Dr Taylor told LBC News listeners that following the ongoing Covid Inquiry changes should be made that prevent profiteering from national emergencies.
And he said that the money “lost” to profiteering should be recovered for the NHS.
“Fundamentally we haven’t got enough money to run the NHS at the moment and that money is in the hands of some very wealthy people,” he said.
“They made a profit at a time of emergency when we were all fighting for the health of the nation.
“It hasn’t disappeared. Most of the money that very wealthy people have isn’t suddenly spent – most of them struggle to spend it because they’ve got too much.”
Listen again to Dr Taylor talking to LBC News. The interview starts at around two hours and 32 minutes.
