Zahid Chauhan

Zahid Chauhan OBE is a general practitioner and a British Labour Party politician, councillor for Alexandra ward on Oldham Council.[1] He has executive responsibility for health and social care on the council and runs the charity Homeless Friendly.

He has been actively campaigning during the COVID-19 pandemic in England to ensure that homeless people are vaccinated. He organised clinics to vaccinate homeless people and rough sleepers as a high priority because they are at high risk from the virus.[2] He says that homeless people with low immune systems are highly susceptible to infection[3] and that putting them in the first wave was "the human thing to do".[4] He was named by The Big Issue as one of their Changemakers for 2021 for vaccinating homeless people two months before their vulnerability was recognised in government advice.[5]

He welcomed the establishment of the Oldham Community Diagnostic Centre, a joint enterprise between the council and the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group.[6]

He was on BBC Radio 4's Today programme on 4 January 2022 and was asked what the cancellation of non-urgent surgery would mean, he said: 'It means for my patients that they will be waiting longer, they will be unfortunately suffering more... If you are waiting for a hip replacement and you can't walk, that means you are in pain.' He said the cancellations were exacerbated by problems with the availability of lateral flow tests and PCR tests.[7]

He says "One of Covid’s few positives is that the public has finally seen the value of their health service."[8]

He was the initiator of the campaign to set up a commemorative plaque at the Royal Oldham Hospital for the two nurses involved in the in vitro fertilisation of Louise Brown.[9]

References
  1. "Zahid Chauhan OBE". Oldham Council. 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  2. "Oldham: Homeless prioritised for Covid-19 vaccine in UK first". Oldham Times. 13 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  3. "Zahid Chauhan: Why we prioritised the homeless for Covid vaccination". Local Government Chronicle. 27 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. "Covid-19: Oldham prioritises homeless in vaccine roll-out". BBC. 14 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  5. "Changemakers 2022: Housing and homelessness". Big Issue. 10 January 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  6. "'Landmark' NHS testing facility coming to Oldham". Place Northwest. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  7. "UK Covid infections rise to record 3.7m in last week of 2021". Financial Times. 5 January 2022. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  8. "What does a GP do when they lose their patience?". Pulse. 6 July 2021. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  9. "Contributions of IVF nurse pioneers finally 'fully recognised'". Nursing Times. 9 March 2022. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
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