President’s Message
BAPIO has come a long way since its inception in 1996. It is not only a major national healthcare organisation with divisions in all the UK countries and regions but also has a significant influence on policymakers in the NHS, GMC, the Royal Colleges, and other stakeholders.
It hasn’t been an easy ride. It isn’t always straightforward to stand up for fairness or justice, but we did and continue to do so. We were not afraid to make legal challenges to the Department of Health, the Home Office, the GMC, and the RCGP. We stood by Hadiza Bawa-Garba, Meenal Viz, Manjula Arora, and many others who were unfairly treated. We have and continue to support hundreds of doctors in difficulty.
When we realised that the trade union and existing medical unions were not providing the same support to BME doctors we dared to challenge these establishments, with their kitties of millions of pounds, and started our own Medical Defence Shield (MDS) to cover both employment and regulatory issues. To ensure the career progression of BME doctors we launched the BAPIO Training Academy, (BTA), BAPIO Institute for Health Research (BIHR), and BAPIO Faculty of Leadership (BFL). When 50,000 Indian Nurses in the NHS were having issues with career progression, bullying, and harassment we launched the British Indian Nurses Association (BINA) to support them.
Dr. Ramesh Mehta CBE
However, it is not just challenging the establishment and being only activists. We have always favoured constructive dialogue to promote improvements and have been pragmatic in developing close relations with all the stakeholders including the NHSE and the GMC. We have developed partnerships with NHS Trusts intending to support doctors in difficulty and ‘nipping a complaint in the bud’.
We have produced many constructive documents to promote equality issues including ‘Bridging the Gap’, ‘Dignity at Work Standards’, and ‘LED Charter’. Our two academic Journals, printed & online, ‘The Physician’ and ’Sushruta’ have a wide readership and we are working towards having them available on PubMed soon.
Our 13 divisions have regular CPD activities. They also have WhatsApp Groups for regular interaction with members. Our several active forums include ‘Health & Wellbeing Forum’, ‘Women’s Forum’, ‘Young Doctors Forum’, ‘, ‘Patient and Workforce Safety Forum’, ‘GP Forum’ and ‘Paediatric Forum’. We have a popular Indigo BAPIO discussion platform to discuss ‘day-to-day issues’ affecting doctors. Furthermore, many of BAPIO’s divisions and forums arrange local cultural events for all families to participate in.
BAPIO is a non-party political and non-religious organisation. It contributes to many charitable causes and responds to the needs of victims of natural disasters.
Friends, there are many opportunities for you to be an active member and contribute to several activities of BAPIO. This will not only help your career progression but also will give you a feeling of satisfaction and belonging to an organisation that provides you with a voice to shape how we influence future dialogue in so many areas.