Staff of the National Health Service have received various criticisms about their videos of dance routines in hospitals. These videos are uploaded in a media sharing site garnering many views. However, not everyone is pleased by them, especially families of cancer patients who have had their treatmet and scans cancelled while the NHS were dancing.
In the past weeks, groups of NHS nurses from Buckinghamshire, London, Wolverhampton and Leeds have created several videos using the application TikTok. The said videos which were supposedly uploaded to lighten their load as frontliners in fighting this virus has earned the ire of some people.
One person who has a brother and a sister who are both front liners said that she was offended by seeing the clips since her family members are there fighting the virus and she is witnessing others just dancing around.
According to the NHS, the videos were created by their various departments in order to lift spirits and morale of people in these trying times, especially now that their morale is low due to the increased death rates, lack of equipment to protect themselves and the increased risk of getting infected by the coronavirus.
While other people saw the videos as offensive and as a mockery of the Health Services, others expressed their support to the NHS saying that they were only providing light relief amidst a stressful time.
Some healthcare facilities including Burton NHS and the University Hospitals of Derby posted their clip, adding a disclaimer that there were no patients left uncared for in the making of the said video.
However, some people are still unimpressed saying that they do not go out and clap for them to just to see them in videos prancing around the hospitals dancing. The NHS staff were also slammed for supposedly risking damaging facial masks, gloves, aprons, and other PPEs in while dancing during a time of a nationwide scarcity.
NHS Staff apologizes to those whom they have offended
On the other hand, NHS staff from the Tavistock Day Case Theatre in West Devon were forced to make an apology after filming themselves performing a Maori Chant.
In the video, the nurses were doing Ka Mate, a native Maori chant while one of the nurses said, "This is the message we wish to affirm, you'll never beat us we hate you, you germ. Together we'll triumph with the strength from within. Mankind will destroy you, mankind will win."
People online were quick to slam the video as racist and an abuse of a native culture, prompting the NHS staff to release an apology statement saying that they are whole heartedly apologizing to those whom they have offended.
Moreover, they said that the video was intended to show their commitment to uplifting health as they fight against coronavirus and that the last thing they wanted to do was to upset anyone.
The NHS has also used the media sharing site in order to document their lack of PPE and that they do not have the right equipment to face and fight the pandemic.
