Politicians and medics pay tribute to respected GP and ‘fearless defender’ of NHS Dr Kailash Chand

MANCHESTER July 29: Prof Kailash Chand, who was renowned for his longstanding service to the NHS, for which he received an OBE, as well as his outspoken criticism of government NHS policy including the recent lifting of Covid restrictions passed away suddenly on Monday 26th July in Greater Manchester where he lived.
His son, Dr Aseem Malhotra, shared the news on Twitter that he had suffered a cardiac arrest at home.

A personal message about my father @KailashChandOBE

Thank you for your love & support

🌹 pic.twitter.com/Ion8egjZN6

— Dr Aseem Malhotra FRCP (@DrAseemMalhotra) July 28, 2021

Hundreds of tributes have already poured in for Dr Chand.

The British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) said Dr Chand had been a ‘pillar’ of the health service.

The BMA tweeted after his death: “Vice President, former deputy council chair, GPC member and staunch defender of the NHS, his was a life of service to his patients and fellow doctors and all at the BMA will miss him deeply.”

Dr Chand, who died aged 73, moved to England from India in 1978, and went onto dedicate his life to one of service to the NHS.

As well as routinely contributing to various forms of media, he had been named an honorary vice president of the BMA, of which he also sat as deputy chair of the council. He was also awarded an OBE for his service. He was a vocal defender of a public and sufficiently funded NHS, who would always do all he could to provide morale to the workforce, including during the current Covid pandemic.

Among the many fellow GPs, organisational bodies, political leaders and members of the local community offering their condolences were former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who shared his ‘sadness’ at the loss of the ‘true socialist who always defended our NHS’, and thanked him for ‘a wonderful life of care’.

Confirming the news also was Jeremy Corbyn MP of Islington North: “So sad at the death of Dr Kailash Chand a true socialist who always defended our NHS. In his memory stop privatisation and create a National Care Service. RIP and thank you for a wonderful life of care.”

Former shadow Chancellor John McDonnell summed him up as a ‘courageous voice speaking out to expose the impact of poverty and inequality on people’s health’.

Further tributes heralded him as an ‘icon’, ‘a pillar of our society’, an ‘immense worth to humanity’ and ‘a visionary’.

Dr Chand is survived by his cardiologist son Dr Malhotra. His beloved wife Dr Anisha Malhotra, also a GP, died in November 2018.