MATT Hancock has been accused by an NHS doctor of being “disgustingly disrespectful” to the bereaved families of Covid-19 victims.
The Health Secretary came under fire after he claimed he should be thanked, not criticised, for his role in tackling a pandemic which has led to almost 130,000 deaths in the UK.
The Tory minister was also accused of lying to the public over his insistence there had been no national shortages of PPE in England, despite widespread reports from doctors about a lack of safety equipment.
Dr Rachel Clarke, a palliative care specialist, said Hancock’s remarks were “disgustingly disrespectful to the families of over 130,000 people who have died of Covid [in the UK]”.
She told Good Morning Britain: “We all know that’s one of the worst death tolls in the entire world. And the fact is, if you are not willing to apologise for the things you have got wrong then that must mean you think you have nothing to learn and that’s really, really worrying because he if he thinks he’s got nothing to learn then how do we ever stop making the same mistakes again?
“A crucial part of good medicine is learning from your mistakes, that’s how we get safer. So how can Matt Hancock possibly think he has nothing to we have nothing to learn when we have one of worst death rates in the world?”
Clarke was then asked about the Health Secretary’s insistence that there was no national shortage of PPE in England.
The doctor replied: “That was literally an example of Matt Hancock looking the entire country in the eye and lying to them.
“And I know this because I was one of the thousands of doctors experiencing for myself a shortage of PPE.”
READ MORE: Matt Hancock refuses to resign over unlawful ruling on Covid contracts
On the previous day’s Good Morning Britain, Hancock had infuriated host Piers Morgan by claiming he should be thanked instead of pilloried.
During questioning about PPE shortages, the Health Secretary was asked why he seemed to be “exasperated”.
He replied: "I sound exasperated for two reasons Piers, one because I think we should be on this programme thanking my team, they work so hard."
"Really?" Morgan asked, adding: "Let's just analyse that shall we.”
He continued: "I'm sorry, if you want to play that game with us, you and your team have presided over a woeful handling of this pandemic that has lead to us having the worst death toll in Europe. 130,000 people dead.
"So I'm sorry if my first thought when you come on Health Secretary is not to thank you and your team for your brilliant handling of the pandemic because I don't think 130,000 deaths shows that you've handled it well.
"I'm sorry that I'm not thanking you and applauding you."
The latest row comes after Hancock was found to have acted unlawfully because he failed to publish details of billions of pounds' worth of coronavirus-related contracts within the required time.
A High Court judge ruled last week that the failure to publish details of the multibillion-pound deals within the 30-day period required by law breached the “vital public function” of transparency over how “vast quantities” of taxpayers’ money was spent.
The Health Secretary confirmed over the weekend that he would not be resigning over the ruling.
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