Indian-origin pathologist accused of botching post-mortems in UK

LONDON: An Indian-origin pathologist has been accused of botching up some post-mortems at a UK hospital and is under police investigation to establish if any criminal charges need to be brought against him.

Khalid Ahmed, who worked as a consultant histopathologist at the Royal Oldham Hospital in Manchester, carried out an undisclosed number of post-mortem tests for the north Manchester coroner's office.

An investigation revealed that he repeatedly recorded the wrong cause of death for patients, misidentified organs and potentially mixed up bodies, The Daily Telegraph reported.

In May last year, the senior coroner at the north Manchester coroner's office raised concerns about Ahmed's examinations and a recent review found "significant concerns" with his "inadequate" reports.

Professor Simon Kim Suvarna, a consultant histopathologist at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, carried out the review into Ahmed, who qualified as a medic in Bangaluru in 1989, and found some reports to have an "incorrect" cause of death given.

Suvarna is also reported to have noted that Ahmed's tests "do not even meet the standards that are expected for pathology students to pass the autopsy component of the final exam", the newspaper reported.

A subsequent police referral was made by the coroner and that the police investigation is still underway.

A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said: "GMP is assessing what, if any, criminal offences may have been committed in relation to findings presented to the coroner."

Ahmed joined Pennine Acute NHS Trust in January 2007, but no longer works there.

In a statement, the trust said after they were told of the coroner's concerns, an "in-depth internal review" into Ahmed's practice was carried out, which concluded in February this year.

The trust added that a "thorough and extensive investigation" of Ahmed's work for the UK'S state-funded National Health Service (NHS) work "provided assurance" his practice was "within the range of a reasonable pathologist".

The UK'S General Medical Council said he is still licensed to practise as a histopathologist.