UK Calls for Tackling Alleged ‘Racial Bias’ in Medical Devices

A health worker uses an oximeter to monitor the oxygen saturation levels of a resident during a door-to-door survey to check for COVID-19 symptoms at a low income neighbourhood in Hyderabad, India, on May 6, 2021. Noah Seelam/AFP via Getty Images

The UK on Sunday called on the United States and other “like-minded countries” to tackle alleged biases in medical devices, such as oximeters that give less accurate readings on darker skins, which may have contributed to the higher COVID-19 mortality rate in ethnic minorities.

The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Sajid Javid said he had commissioned an independent review to find out if “systematic bias” exists within medical devices in the UK.