Fitness to practise: Public’s right to know

THE public has a right to know whether Dr Chhetri worked in Ireland, the Labour Party insisted last night.

Labour’s health spokeswoman Jan O’Sullivan acknowledged the Medical Council’s responsibility to protect the identity of doctors in cases where decisions on their fitness to practise had yet to made, and where they could yet be cleared of wrongdoing.

But in this instance, she said, it had clearly been determined that Dr Chhetri was not fit to practise.

“In this case, there isn’t a question of protecting either his good name or his name itself, because obviously his name is [already] in the media.

“So I can’t see any reason at all for keeping it private, and I think there is a public right to know, and the public should know, if he has worked in Ireland,” said Ms O’Sullivan.

It was hard to believe that the HSE could not determine whether the doctor had worked here, she added.

At this stage in their existence, one would imagine that they would be able to check up pretty much straight away whether he had worked here, particularly if he had worked in a public hospital,” she said.