Censured doctor back at work

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A South Auckland doctor found guilty of working without a current practising certificate and forging a certificate has already returned to medical practice, after a two-month suspension.

A Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal decision made public last week found Ratilal Magan Ranchhod guilty of working without a current practising certificate in 2008 and 2009, and guilty of forging a certificate.

The tribunal censured him, fined him $7500, ordered him to pay $20,000 in costs, and suspended him from practising for two months from December 18.

Medical Council chairman John Adams said the council had provided Dr Ranchhod with an interim practising certificate so he was able to continue practising until May, to get him "back into the usual cycle of application" for an annual practising certificate.

The council has rejected criticism that it was too slow to respond to concerns about Dr Ranchhod, despite 16 complaints about him between 1997 and 2008.

Dr Adams said the council had "managed concerns around Dr Ranchhod's competence effectively once complaints were brought to our attention".

For 13 of the complaints, the Health and Disability Commissioner either discontinued investigating, recommended no further action be taken, or had resolved the complaint through advocacy, Dr Adams said.

Conditions had been placed on Dr Ranchhod's practice and he had not been suspended after the council decided that was not "the best way to rehabilitate Dr Ranchhod or to protect public health and safety".

The council decided in December 2008 not to issue Dr Ranchhod with an annual practising certificate, but gave him an interim certificate so he could sit the College of General Practitioners' Primex exam to prove his competency.

He passed the knowledge section of the exam but failed the practical assessment.

He went on to forge a practising certificate, which he sent to a retirement village where he worked, "thereby representing ... that he had a current [practising certificate] and was able to practise medicine", the tribunal decision said.

Health Minister Tony Ryall last week asked for an urgent report into why it took the Medical Council so long to cancel Dr Ranchhod's practising certificate.

The report had been provided to Mr Ryall, but no formal response had been received, Dr Adams told Radio New Zealand today.

- NZPA