Indian-origin doctor faces British medical tribunal for breach

An Indian-origin doctor in the UK will appear before a medical tribunal for prescribing medicines to close relatives by breaching strict rules of British medical council which termed his action as "misleading and dishonest".
Dr Srinivas Rao Dharmana, 45, from Liverpool in England, was referred to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service by the UK's General Medical Council (GMC) for prescribing methadone to a family member, referred to as "Patient A", on three occasions between December 2011 and May 2013.
Under GMC guidelines, General Practitioner (GP)s "must" avoid prescribing medicine for themselves or anyone with whom they have a close personal relationship.

"It is alleged that his actions in this regard were misleading and dishonest," the GMC said.
He has also received a police caution in the past over a prescription for another patient, referred to as "Patient B", Liverpool Echo reported.
A spokesperson from local Merseyside Police confirmed he had been cautioned for supplying buprenorphine, a Class C drug similar to methadone.

Dharmana is also accused of practising medicine on "more than one occasion" after being suspended by the GMC while the investigation took place.
His GP clinic in Walton was shut down in December 2015 after being rated "inadequate" by the UK's Care Quality Commission (CQC), which found staff were not properly trained and the building lacked vital medical equipment. There was also no oxygen available at the practice or a defibrillator for use in an emergency, the commission had said in a report.

"There was a pre-planned agenda to close me down, that is why I decided to shut. I have decided to walk away from the whole thing. Not one patient has ever complained about the care at the surgery. It is the patients who I care about, I am not worried about what the CQC says. I put my heart and soul into the surgery," Dharmana had said at the time.
The doctor made headlines in 2013 when he was stabbed by robbers as he closed his old surgery for the night.