OVER 200 people demonstrated outside the doctors’ union BMA head office in central London yesterday to protest against the ban on Dr Swee Ang addressing medical students.
She had been invited to speak at the Medical Students Conference 2025 and then the invitation was rescinded.
The co-founder of Medical Aid for Palestine, and a survivor of the Sabra and Shatilla Massacre in Lebanon in 1982, had announced that she would be making a speech outside the BMA despite the ban.
Addressing the crowd, Dr Swee Ang said: ‘Medical students are going to be the custodians of health. You must defend the right to health of everyone in the world.
‘I can’t understand why the BMA stopped students from hearing me. We want them to know how to cope with working on the front line of the health service.
‘When they start to work as a GP or as a surgeon, they can’t do enough for patients because of the cuts.
‘We’re here to let the BMA know that we are here. So three cheers for the NHS!
‘I wake up every morning crying for Palestine. How much more must Gaza take? I will defend them by speaking up for them. They cannot stop me. I cannot speak in the lecture hall, but I am speaking here.
‘Student leaders must show courage. A Palestinian doctor said “I will not evacuate”. A week later they bombed his house and killed his children. Gaza belongs to the Palestinians. Palestine belongs to the Palestinians,’ she concluded.
Dr Neena Jila, of the Royal College of Paediatricians, told News Line: ‘The College had their AGM and although a motion was passed to support children’s rights in Gaza, 640 voted in favour, 146 voted against and 22 abstained.
‘The majority stood up for Gaza children. I don’t think it should have been up for discussion, it should be a given that children all over the world have equal rights. It’s obvious, children in Palestine shouldn’t be killed.’
Addressing the crowd Dr Anna Livingstone, a retired Tower Hamlets GP, said: ‘I’m proud of Swee. We have got to stand up to the BMA. The conference cancellation was outrageous. Swee stands up for Palestinians and she stands up for patients in Tower Hamlets.’
