NRI doctor accused of fondling patient in Britain

LONDON: An Indian-origin doctor has been accused of fondling a woman patient's private body parts and later begging her husband not to report him, a British medical tribunal has heard.

53-year-old Subramanium Balu, a married father of two, allegedly telephoned the man a day after the consultation to say: "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please forgive me."

When the husband said he was considering taking the incident further, Balu pleaded: "Please bear in mind I am a family man with a wife and two children," The Daily Telegraph quoted Balu as during the hearing.

The doctor later allegedly faked an account of the incident, which took place in September, 2008, in which he claimed that the 35-year-old patient had tried to seduce him by "pushing her chest forward" in a provocative way, and then putting her "arched buttocks" in his face.

He said, "I had to turn my eyes away to avoid this, when I discussed her medical condition she was looking at me in a seductive way."

The General Medical Council (GMC) tribunal in Manchester heard that the woman, who was identified only as Patient A, went to Balu's surgery in Dudley in the West Midlands suffering from a cold, high temperature and head aches as well as a regular cough.

Sophie Cartwright, counsel for the GMC, said the following day, after Balu learnt a complaint had been made, he contacted the woman's husband over the phone telling him: "I'm sorry, please forgive me."

Dudley National Health Service Trust hired an independent investigator to interview Balu. The doctor, of Stourbridge, West Midlands, denied any improper action.