The PDA has penned an open letter addressing the national media in response to the alleged ‘media attack’ on pharmacist and member of parliament, Taiwo Owatemi.
The organisation said the some of the articles on the Labour MP, who properly declared that she is working some shifts in community pharmacy, has demonstrated a lack of knowledge of the profession.
“There are multiple examples of doctors that become MPs continuing to practice, including some who have served in cabinet, and quite rightly as health professionals they will also have a requirement to keep their practice current. However, we cannot recall any of those MPs being criticised for doing so in any form, let alone in the way some of the attacks on Ms Owatemi have been phrased,” Mark Koziol, chairman, of the PDA, said in the letter.
“That an MP should continue to practice and care for patients in the middle of a pandemic should be praised, not condemned.”
Owatemi, who represents Coventry North West, has been in the middle of a social media storm after a right-wing blog sensationally stated that ‘Serving Labour MP Admits to Selling Drugs’. Several social media users shared this, apparently taking the headline at face value.
Prior to her election, Owatemi worked for the NHS as a senior oncology pharmacist.
