Doctor who works at LUH refused registration in UK inquiry hears

 

 
 
A doctor who works at Letterkenny University Hospital is facing allegations that he failed to disclose to Irish authorities that he was refused registration on several occasions with the General Medical Council in Britain.
A fitness to practise inquiry has heard that the British authorities were not satisfied with the authenticity of a certificate Dr Mohamed Abdelrahman provided in 2012 about his competency in English.
Dr Abdelrahman currently works in obstetrics and gynecology at Letterkenny and qualified in Sudan in 2011.
He was registered with the Medical Council in Ireland in March 2015.
RTE is reporting today that Dr Abdelrahman is facing three allegations of professional misconduct, poor professional performance and a breach of the Medical Practitioners Act before a fitness to practise inquiry which began today.
It is alleged that in his application for registration to the Medical Council in Ireland in June 2014, he did not disclose the refusal of the GMC in Britain to register him, as they were unhappy with an internationally recognised certificate he provided as to his competency in writing and speaking English.
The GMC later established that the scores on the IELTS certificate were not correct.
Dr Abdelrahman sat that English exam in Sudan and later claimed he had been the victim of fraud there.
John Freeman, lawyer for Dr Abdelrahman, told the inquiry his client accepts the factual allegations before this inquiry.
He said Dr Abdelrahman was 22 and a very young doctor at the time of the events.
Mr Freeman said Dr Abdelrahman was a doctor with an excellent academic record and there were no issues about patient safety.
He accepted that he was “not full and frank” in his engagement with the Medical Council and the GMC.
The inquiry has heard that he never practised as a doctor in Britain despite making seven applications there, three of which were for full registration.
However, Dr Abdelrahman did at a later stage sit an exam again and secure an acceptable IELTS certificate.
Mr Freeman said that Dr Abdelrahman was asking the inquiry to deal with the matter by way of him giving certain undertakings to the Fitness to Practise Committee, including never to repeat the conduct which is the subject of this hearing, to accept a censure and also to pay a sum to a charity nominated by the council.
Eoghan O’Sullivan, lawyer for the Medical Council chief executive, said he was opposing the application to have the matter dealt with by way of undertakings, given the gravity and severity of the allegations.
After retiring to consider the application by lawyers for Dr Abdelrahman, the committee decided not to accept it and to proceed to hear the direct evidence in the case.