A racist doctor who lied to gain work as a locum doctor in the Highlands has been struck off.
Ragheb Nouman began working temporarily for NHS Highland while under investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC) for making racist remarks in a previous job.
Yesterday a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) panel decided that erasing the Syrian-born doctor from the medical register was the only sanction available to them.
When he started work in the Highlands he was already under investigation for making a number of racist and inappropriate remarks about Indians to and about colleagues while working in orthopaedics at North Tees Hospital’s NHS Foundation Trust between May 21 and July 9, 2012.
Among several remarks he was found to have made, Dr Nouman said: “Indians should clean toilets, not practice medicine.”
He also told a GMC investigation officer: “You must understand that Indian doctors complain about me because I am rude.”
In relation to his work in the Highlands, Dr Nouman was found to have signed a declaration on May 13, 2013 stating he was not subject to fitness to practice proceedings.
During his hearing Dr Nouman, who is based in Romania, offered apologies to the staff at North Tees Hospital and “to the Indian nation”.
He said his actions were due to stress as a result of the situation in Syria.
He also apologised to GMC for comments he made about their performance assessors on social media, on which he also appealed to a number of world leaders for help.
Addressing Dr Nouman, the panel found that his apologies “provided in your submissions at this late stage lack sincerity”, saying he had a “deep-seated attitudinal problem”.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC who launched the investigation into Dr Nouman, said: “We are pleased with the MPTS panel’s decision – racism has no place in medicine or any other environment.
“Last year we tightened up our sanctions guidance which included more detailed guidance on what action panels should consider in cases of a more serious nature, such as if a doctor has discriminated against patients or colleagues.
“This has been seen in the panel’s decision today and shows our ongoing commitment to tackling discriminatory behaviour in medicine.”
Dr Nouman will have 28 days in which he can appeal the decision, after which he will be erased from the medical register.