The General Medical Council blinks first

Niall McCrae

To paraphrase the Sound of Music song, ‘How do we solve a problem like Malhotra?’ After receiving several complaints, the General Medical Council has decided not to investigate cardiologist Aseem Malhotra, who has become a thorn in the side of the Covid-19 regime and its collaborators in the medical profession. 

Professional regulators have been at the forefront of pandemic discipline, contributing to a culture of fear among practitioners. Severe action has been taken against registrants who criticise or do not comply with the official narrative. I know this from my experience as an officer of the Workers of England Union, representing members brought before the Nursing & Midwifery Council on charges of bringing the profession into disrepute. Apparently the public must be protected against nurses who don’t believe that masks stop airborne respiratory viruses, or who believe in informed consent for novel mRNA vaccines. 

A significant strike against this censorial tyranny was by general practitioner Sam White last year. Dr White was ordered, as a condition for continuing his clinical licence, to delete his social media posts about Covid-19, and to refrain from further critical comments. Dr White took the GMC to the High Court and won. The condition was overturned as a breach of his rights to freedom of expression under the Human Rights Act 1998. 

Whereas White was an early critic of Covid-19 policy, Malhotra was a relatively recent convert. Initially he promoted the vaccine, but when his fit and healthy father died shortly after receiving the injections, Malhotra changed his mind and began his activism against the mass vaccination programme. His personal loss came alongside his observation in clinical practice of a marked increase in myocarditis cases (as well as blood clots and other cardiac complications). Malhotra had a review paper published on this phenomenon, and his findings of iatrogenic harm are corroborated by other medical scientists. 

Malhotra has repeatedly urged suspension of the vaccination programme until the risks are properly assessed. He became a darling of vaccine sceptics, with his charismatic and compassionate voice doing the rounds of independent media channels and the critical fringes of broadcasting (Tucker Carlson’s show on Fox News, and Neil Oliver on GB News). However, he was ignored by mainstream media, and it was not until two weeks ago, when he took the opportunity of a BBC interview on statins, that his call was more widely heard. 

The context for Malhotra’s BBC appearance was a claim by chief medical officer Chris Whitty that cardiac morbidity had increased as a result of limited access to statins during lockdown. Malhotra refuted this, explaining that myocarditis is unrelated to cholesterol level, which statins are meant to control. He instead blamed the vaccines, telling the BBC presenter that this radical medical intervention should be halted. Cue outrage from the covid-crazed establishment. 

The Guardian did a particularly nasty report on Malhotra, smearing him as a peddler of ‘anti-vax’ conspiracy theory. Numerous doctors expressed their outrage on social media, angered by the BBC giving a platform to this known sceptic, who they accused of hijacking an interview on a different topic. Their followers were encouraged to report Malhotra to the GMC.  

The GMC decision not to act against Malhotra is a victory for science, ethics and common sense, but we should not get ahead of ourselves. This was a reluctant declination by the regulator, as the wording of their response to referral shows: – 

‘We recognise that Dr Malhotra has views on the Covid-19 mRNA vaccines that are at odds with the national and international scientific and medical communities. We also recognise that his words are strong and there is a question around the accuracy of his statements. There is currently no evidence that Dr Malhotra has engaged in the type of covid conspiracy related conduct that has to date justified regulatory action’. 

Note here the emphasis on consensus, as if that amounts to truth. It seems that if Malhotra had followed the likes of James Delingpole or Maajid Nawaz down the rabbit hole of globalist conspiracy, he would have been in big trouble. But it is quite reasonable to believe that ulterior motives are behind the public health restrictions imposed on people around the world, purportedly to prevent a respiratory infection of similar symptoms and mortality as influenza. Only an ideologically biased regulator would want to punish such utterances, The GMC continued: – 

‘We also feel it is relevant that Dr Malhotra started expressing his concerns about the vaccines in late 2021 and by this time the vaccine programme was well underway with the vast majority of vaccines delivered before this time. We would suggest that Dr Malhotra’s impact on the Covid-19 vaccination programme in the UK could only have been negligible.’

This is the most worrying line in the GMC response. If Malhotra is right about the hazard of these vaccines, the GMC should be concerned that doctors were inhibited from speaking out earlier, thereby potentially saving lives by reducing the numbers injected. Instead, the GMC assumes that Malhotra is wrong, and that his silly remarks have not stopped the biggest vaccination drive in history. 

The GMC acknowledged that Malhotra has freedom of expression under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, although that is not an absolute right for a medical practitioner. His outspoken opinions on the vaccines, according to the GMC, are ‘not so egregious as to justify a public hearing and a forum for further scepticism to be aired as to aspects of the Covid-19 pandemic and response’. . 

This, I believe, is the real reason why the NMC has stepped back. Malhotra is too big a fish to fry, and any proceedings would be publicised to the detraction of the zealots. Jordan Peterson has demonstrated this, in his inquisition by the Ontario board of psychology. Ultimately, the truth will get out, and those who tried to hide it will be damned.