Jewish doctor launches campaign for home oxygen monitors during pandemic

A Jewish doctor has launched a campaign for oxygen monitors to be delivered to every home across London during the pandemic.

Dr Sharon Raymond says the electronic device, which can be clipped onto a fingertip to measure oxygen saturation levels, could help medical professionals assess covid-19 symptoms remotely and determine whether urgent help is needed.

The GP and lead in unscheduled care has already garnered over 170 signatures since launching a petition on Change.org on Tuesday. Home oxygen monitors “will help determine whether urgent emergency medical help is needed, or whether patients are well enough to stay at home, depending also on other symptoms and general health”, she wrote in the online appeal.

Dr Raymond recently initiated an open letter, signed by over 20 medical professionals, urging the community to abide by social distancing measures.

She is also leading a team of five mainly Jewish volunteers, which has raised over £52,000 to purchase specialist equipment for the NHS during the covid-19 pandemic. The group is aiming to crowdfund £100,000.

A new programme at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in the US is seeing suspected or confirmed covid-19 patients sent home with the device, the newswire Reuters reported last week.

The number of coronavirus-related fatalities rose to 215 among UK Jews as of Monday, up from 209 on Sunday, according to data collated by the Board of Deputies on Tuesday.

The coronavirus-related death toll passed 12,100 across UK hospitals as of Monday, health authorities confirmed on Tuesday.