[앵커]
It has been found that the accuracy of the blood oxygen saturation meter, which is essential for COVID-19 patients, is lower for people of color with dark skin color.
The UK government has urged global measures, arguing that such flaws increase the risk of COVID-19 for people of color.
This is a report by Lee Dong-heon, a reporter.
[기자]
Corona 19 patients wear an ‘oximeter’ device that measures blood oxygen saturation on their fingers.
It is a medical device that measures hemoglobin in the blood that carries oxygen through light, and is an important device to identify the symptoms of COVID-19 patients.
However, it has been found that this oximeter is less accurate for dark-skinned people such as black people.
This fact came from the process of finding the cause of black and South Asians compared to whites among the inpatients in intensive care units in the UK due to Corona 19 by the British Statistical Office.
By March of this year, 28% of intensive care unit admissions were black and Asian, more than double the proportion of the UK population as a whole.
British Health Minister Javid said the flaw was not intentional, but said it was a systemic racial bias that resulted from white-dominated medical equipment being made.
[사비드 자비드 / 영국 보건장관 : 상황을 개선하기 위해 무엇을 할지 살펴봐야 합니다. 의료장비의 인종 편향은 전 세계적인 문제입니다.]
Minister Javid said it is an unacceptable global problem that puts many people at risk due to racial bias in medical devices.
He said he had already discussed the issue with the U.S. and hoped to work with other countries to address biases across the health care system.
The UK is also looking at gender bias in the health care system, with results expected to be published at the end of January next year.
This is YTN Lee Dong-heon.
YTN Lee Dong-heon (dhlee@ytn.co.kr)
[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]
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