The British Association for Physicians of Indian Origin (Bapio) on Friday said it has joined a legal challenge by two doctors against Britain’s health authorities for allegedly inadequate provision and guidance on personal protection equipment in the early stages of the coronavirus pandemic.

The challenge has been brought by doctor-couple Nishant Joshi and Meenal Viz. A high court judge will decide whether to grant permission for a judicial review. The legal papers also include a witness statement by Bapio president Ramesh Mehta.

Over 300 health and social care workers have died due to the virus. The review is sought to challenge the lawfulness of the PPE guidance published by the Department of Health and Social Care and Public Health England, which the petitioners say exposed the workers to the virus.

Mehta said: “This case by Joshi and Viz is vital in establishing the obligation of government and its official bodies in the protection of health and social care workers against a second wave of Covid-19 and future pandemics”.

Bapio said that as the largest organisation representing doctors, nurses and other care workers from the non-white communities, who have suffered disproportionately in terms of infections and fatalities, it commissioned and published several surveys on their experience.

Mehta said it was the first medical organisation to write to the chief medical officer, Chris Whitty, expressing concern about the disproportionate deaths of non-white doctors. Fatalities include several doctors and nurses of Indian heritage.

Joshi and Viz, who have applied to the high court for permission to bring judicial review proceedings, have named Bapio as an interested party. The PPE guidance in focus allegedly included advice to use plastic aprons in hospitals, if gowns run out.

Hospitals across the UK faced a severe shortage of PPE in the initial stages of the pandemic, until the Boris Johnson government imported large quantities, including some from India, besides making procurement from within the country.