Foreign docs in 60% of conduct hearings

MORE than 60% of Fitness to Practise (FTP) inquiries completed by the Medical Council in 2010 related to foreign doctors.

Figures supplied by the council up to December 15 show that out of 36 inquiries held in both public and private last year, 22 related to non-Irish doctors.

In addition, of 13 doctors against whom findings were made and publicised on the council’s website in 2010, 12 related to non-Irish doctors — all of whom were found guilty of professional misconduct.

These included GPs, junior doctors and consultants from Egypt, Nigeria, Sudan, Russia, Poland, Italy, France, Hungary and Pakistan.

The council imposed sanctions ranging from reprimand (admonishment) and strong criticism (censure), to attaching conditions to the doctor’s name in the register of medical practitioners.

Two doctors were suspended from practise — one for six months and one for 12 months. They were:

* Italian plastic surgeon Marco Loiacono, suspended for six months by the High Court over his failure to provide proper after-care for a Dublin woman following breast augmentation surgery.

* Nigerian Dr Muyiwa Aremu, suspended for 12 months. Details not publicised.

The strongest action — cancellation of registration — was taken against French GP Dr Herve Doustaing, who failed to notify the Medical Council that he had a number of criminal convictions and he had been suspended from practising as a GP in France and Britain.

Yesterday, Irish Medical Organisation GP committee chairman Dr Ronan Boland said they “would be anxious to ensure at all times, and in the interest of patient safety, that doctors coming to work here from other jurisdictions can demonstrate on an ongoing basis that they have the same level of competency as doctors who trained and work here”.

Fine Gael health spokes- man James Reilly said he had raised a number of issues in the Dáil in relation to foreign doctors, including failure by some to have insurance. He said Fine Gael had proposed this be made a criminal offence in its Medical Indemnity Bill.

He also described as “absolutely ludicrous” the requirement that doctors coming here from the US, New Zealand and Australia take English proficiency tests, while doctors from EU countries whose first language was not English, were exempt as EU citizens. “As a doctor, the most important part of a diagnosis is being able to communicate it to the patient.”

Dr Reilly said the Medical Council “needed to be alert as to the bona fides of medical qualifications” and to make sure doctors coming to work here had not been struck off elsewhere.

A spokeswoman for the council said they had corresponded with the Department of Health regarding a number of proposed amendments to the Medical Practitioners Act 2007.

“One of the proposed amendments is to enable the council to apply limits/restrictions where appropriate on a doctor’s initial registration,” she said.

However, she said the issue of the number of foreign doctors before FTP inquiries was “separate and distinct” to the council’s proposals.