An NHS doctor working in a Covid-19 intensive care unit has said that he will resign by the end of the week if senior advisor to the Prime Minister, Dominic Cummings, has not done so by then.
Cummings - who stands accused of breaching social distancing rules after travelling from London to Durham with his wife and son to stay with his parents at the end of March, a week after the lockdown was imposed - has been backed by Boris Johnson. In a press conference held yesterday, Johnson said that his advisor had "acted responsibly, legally and with integrity" and that "any parent would frankly understand what he did".
Dr. Dominic Pimenta, a cardiology registrar, took to Twitter to share a picture of him wearing personal protective equipment (PPE), and captioned it: "This is me right now heading back into the covid ICU I’ve worked for the last two months. This stuff is hot and hard work. Haven’t seen my parents since January. Frankly, Cummings spits in the face of all our efforts, the whole #NHS. If he doesn’t resign, I will."
Speaking to the PA News Agency, per ITV News, Pimenta continued;
"I found it incredibly insulting to see the whole cabinet doubling down on this issue and undermining the public who are working incredibly hard to follow the guidance, it’s a betrayal."
"NHS staff have bent over backwards to meet this incredible challenge, spending hundreds of extra hours in meetings and drawing up timetables to care for patients.
I do think it’s still early days yet, but I’ll give them until the end of the week for Mr Cummings to resign before I do. I’m not trying to lead a movement, but I wouldn’t be surprised if more did the same."
"There needs to be an apology from the Government, cabinet members cannot continue to insult health workers like this, many feel incredibly disrespected like all their hard work and energy has been thrown back in their faces," he added.
Cummings is to give a live public statement at 4pm today.
