The British government is keen to find out why Indians settled in the United Kingdom are more susceptible to heart disease and oral cancer than their white counterparts, Health Minister Dr John Reid told a gathering of 200 doctors of Indian origin in the House of Commons in London.
This is the motivation behind a new multi-million pound advertising campaign against smoking and chewing tobacco aimed at the Indian community, Reid said on Tuesday night.
Those present included Chennai-born surgeon Dr Mohammed Rela, a consultant at the King's College Hospital in London and an expert in liver transplants.
Indian doctors are seen as leaders of a key ethnic community that could make all the difference to the ruling Labour Party's performance in the next general election that is widely expected to take place in the next 18 months.
"I thank you for your contribution to the National Health Service," Reid told the General Practitioners and consultants attending the meeting. "The Indian community has made a huge and lasting contribution to this country and the NHS.
I hope you feel that your substantial cultural and substantial enrichment of the NHS has been responded to by this government."
Labour Friends of India chairman Stephen Pound, who is a member of the British parliament, also addressed the gathering. He hopes Indian medical professionals represented on a newly created Health Working Group would continue to raise issues of importance to the Indian community.
"It's very encouraging to see the enthusiasm of the assembled audience for the Health Working Group that we have launched. Its high time that this community of health care professionals contributes to decisions taken at the highest policy making level.
"The high profile and success of the Indian business community in the UK often leads to not enough recognition being given to the immense contribution that the Indian community has made to British society in general and the NHS in particular," he said.
Commenting on the apparent failure of the NHS to tackle the higher prevalence of certain diseases among UK Indians, Labour Friends of India spokesman Vikas Pota said, "It's not right that a person of Indian origin has to suffer from a cocktail of diseases ranging from heart disease to arthritis just because the infrastructure and support to deal with these issues is not in place.
"We thank Dr Reid for supporting us tonight but want an assurance from him that tackling health inequalities will be given more prominence and will feature in the next general election manifesto."
