LONDON (Web Desk) – A Syrian surgeon has advised that Indian doctors should ‘clean toilets and not practise medicine’ during a series of racist rants.
According to a tribunal hearing on Friday, Ragheb Nouman, 52, said they would be the ‘downfall of the NHS’ and would ‘take us all over’ during conversations with hospital colleagues, it was alleged.
When a complaint was made about him to bosses, Nouman accused Indian doctors of being ‘untrustworthy, rude and cheeky,’ and said they ‘should be gardeners’, the tribunal heard.
Later, in emails sent to medical watchdogs, the father of three denied being racist but condemned what he called ‘bloody Indians,’ it was claimed.
Nouman, who was working as a locum at University Hospital of Hartlepool at the time, said: ‘I will never accept to be insulted by cheeky Indian doctors, whereas I do respect polite Indian doctors.
‘Therefore you must understand that I am not racist but I hate cheeky people and the complaint was false and fabricated by that liar Indian so you can throw it in a rubbish bin as it is completely NIL’.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service was told incidents occurred in July 2012 just weeks after Nouman started working in orthopaedics at North Tees and Hartlepools Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust that May.
They began when he was overheard arguing with colleagues on a ward, telling one: ‘I don’t understand you Indian b before a female staff member called him into her office to diffuse the situation.
But Nouman told the woman: ‘The only reason that I have been brought in for this discussion is because of the Indian doctors that have reported me.
‘I am not racist, I have no problem with Arabs or Jews, only with Indians and the Indian population.
‘Indian doctors will be the downfall of the NHS.
They are very bad and have given me a difficult time. English Doctors are good, European.
Doctors are good, Jewish Doctors are good, just the bloody Indians. I have had enough of Indians.’
Due to his alleged comments, the matter was referred to the hospital’s clinical director Dr Christopher Tulloch.
But during a subsequent meeting, Nouman went on to blame the Indians, repeating that he didn’t have a problem with other doctors but that those from India were ‘ruining things’.
Nouman was dismissed from his post on July 9, but returned to the hospital the following day and told Mr Tulloch that he is not a racist, but Indians are ‘dangerous’.
Nouman denies misconduct and told the tribunal that the complaints relate to two specific Indian doctors, adding that he is ‘not a racist’ and has friends from India
The Manchester hearing was told he also approached one of the complainants – known as Mr B – at a bus stop and allegedly said: ‘Does this man look like a doctor?
Nouman was referred to the GMC and in August 2012, an investigations officer asked him about a man known at the hearing as Mr D.
During the call Nouman asked if Mr D was English or Indian, adding that if he was English then that’s OK but if he is Indian, it’s a ‘waste of time’.
Later, in an email to the same investigator, he said again that he is not a racist but has a personal problem with an Indian who complained about him.
He also claimed that the Indian would never have the courage to make such a complaint against an English doctor, something he said should be taken seriously or the hospital would find itself in ‘a chaos situation’.
A second GMC investigator spoke to Nouman by telephone but he referred to ‘that Indian who got me into trouble’.
He then sent an email to the GMC, repeating that the claim was fabricated by the ‘heavy smoke Indian’ – Mr B – and told him to ask British and European doctors in the hospital if he was a racist.
In December 2013 a General Medical Council assessment found Nouman’s professional performance was ‘unacceptable.’
This week Dr Nouman, who is representing himself, told the hearing: ‘It is specifically about two doctors – Indian doctors.
‘There was a first insult against me and after that, in the theatre, he [Mr B] insulted me again, and the last one was in July was when he tried to raise allegations against me.
‘I’m not racist. I have friends from India. I have never ever been a racist doctor.’
But Dr Tulloch who gave evidence against him said: ‘Why on Earth would I go out of my way and go through the additional stress of bringing about allegations that were false if I hadn’t been utterly convinced about what I had heard?
‘You said that you couldn’t trust Indians as they are going to take us all over. The whole gist was it was not addressed to particular people, it was addressed to the nation.’
Courtesy: dailymail.co.uk
