Friends and colleagues of Manjeet Singh Riyat, who died on Monday, aged 52, from coronavirus at the Royal Derby Hospital, have paid tribute to the Sikh consultant who was known affectionately as “the father of the emergency department”.

It is a matter of regret to the Indian community and to the ethnic minorities in general that the growing death toll among them has not been dealt with as a national urgency.

A month after the trend manifested itself, the Daily Telegraph put the story on page one on Tuesday: “Ethnic minorities face higher risk of virus.” The paper’s health correspondent Henry Bodkin noted: “Those who identified as being of Indian heritage made up worst affected group, accounting for three per cent of Covid-19 hospital deaths.”

On Monday, the UK total from hospitals stood at 16,535 – thereby suggesting that the Indian death toll from coronavirus is around 500.

The government’s coronavirus warnings have been directed at the general population, whereas Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Council, is pressing for targeted and “culturally sensitive” campaigns.

Susie Hewitt, an emergency medicine consultant at the hospital, said: “For many, Manjeet was considered the father of the current emergency department in Derby and many more will reflect on how his inspiration has shaped their own careers.

“Manjeet was fiercely proud of his wife and two sons and often shared the achievements and exploits of the boys with equal good humour.

“He had that rare gift of maintaining constant joy in the intellectual challenge of clinical medicine combined with gentle kindness and compassion for his patients.

“He was a powerful advocate for the sickest patients and was well-known for his fair, no-nonsense approach. Manjeet could be relied upon to lift the mood with his dry humour and sense of fun.”

Riyat qualified from the University of Leicester in 1992, before going on to train in emergency medicine at Leicester Royal Infirmary and Lincoln County hospital.

He joined the Royal Derby in 2003, where he became the first Sikh to be appointed as an emergency medicine consultant in the UK.

In a statement, Gavin Boyle, CEO of University Hospitals of Derby and Burton, called him “a widely respected consultant in emergency medicine nationally. Manjeet was … instrumental in building the emergency medicine service in Derbyshire over the past two decades”.