A “wonderful father” died after working in asbestos-filled hospitals with his wife saying he never knew he was “being exposed to danger”, it is reported.
Guru Ghoorah, an NHS nurse, passed away in 2013 leaving behind a wife and two children aged seven and four due to mesothelioma, an incurable cancer caused by exposure to asbestos.
The 45-year-old, from Romford, became ill following his work as a trainee nurse and in healthcare support from 1993 to 2003 at hospitals in Essex including St Margaret’s, Runwell, Harold Wood and Little Highwood.
He told of seeing damaged asbestos from panels and pipe lagging inside wards and other parts of hospitals in a statement before he died.
The dangers of asbestos may now have been known for many years but it still kills more than 5,000 people a year.
Mr Ghoorah's wife Meenakchi told The Times: “He didn’t know he was being exposed to danger just by going into work and doing his job. The government has known about this for years, I can’t understand why it hasn’t already been removed from hospitals. After Guru died, I found myself worried about being exposed to asbestos in all these old buildings, so I moved into the private sector and now work in new ones that I know are safe. And that’s sad, because the NHS has lost not one, but two nurses because of asbestos.”
Mr Ghoorah’s symptoms began with weight loss and pain in a shoulder in September, 2012, and a later biopsy showed he had mesothelioma. He was given, chemotherapy but sadly died in March, 2013.
His wife has said how his children Tanishka and Pejash have been left “traumatised”.
“He was such a lovely person and a wonderful father,” Meenakchi said. “The children loved him so much. His death left them traumatised. It’s ten years on, and our daughter, Tanishka, still asks me to play videos of her father. She needs to hear his voice. Our son, Pejash is 18 now, and he finds it difficult to talk about his father’s death, but I know he misses him.”
Four NHS Trusts were reportedly made to pay compensation of £650,000 for the pain caused to Mr Goorah as well as potential loss of earnings and childcare arrangements so his side could continue to work as a nurse.
Although it is now illegal to use asbestos in the construction or refurbishment of any premises, many thousands of tonnes of it were used in the past in such things as: lagging on plant and pipework, insulation products such as fireproof panels, asbestos cement roofing material and sprayed coatings on structural steel work to insulate against fire and noise.
