Suspended medic: Brexit means I could work in UK
A DOCTOR suspended from working in Ireland over professional misconduct has claimed that Brexit means he could now seek work in Britain.
Dr Omar Hassan Khalafalla Mohamed, 30, who mistook an ankle for an elbow in an X-ray during a training session with hospital colleagues, has gone to the High Court in last-ditch bid to return to work in Ireland.
Yesterday, he asked for his Dublin court case to be adjourned for up to one year. He told the court that while disciplinary action against him in Ireland may affect his ability to work as a doctor in EU countries, he hoped ‘new circumstances’ could enable him to work in the UK.
Mr Justice Peter Kelly, the president of the High Court, retorted: ‘We only had the referendum on Thursday. Article 50 is not yet invoked… That’s nothing to do with me. I’m dealing with your registration in this jurisdiction.’
Dr Hassan, who is originally from Sudan, worked in a number of major Irish hospitals between 2012 and 2014, but he is currently banned from applying for jobs as a doctor or seeking to practise medicine in Ireland.
Mr Justice Kelly warned him: ‘If you are applying to work as a doctor elsewhere, you ought to inform your prospective employer that you are suspended from practice in this jurisdiction.
‘It is highly relevant from the point of view of any employer. Do not misrepretold sent the position to anyone that you’re free to practise medicine in Ireland – because you’re not.’
Mr Justice Kelly refused Dr Hassan a one-year adjournment and gave him four weeks to prepare his case for a full hearing. The judge said it was in the public interest that such cases are dealt with ‘as a matter of urgency’.
Dr Hassan is currently representing himself. The judge told him that he has four weeks to either find a lawyer or ‘proceed with the matter on your own’.
Outside court, Dr Hassan – who previously claimed he was the victim of a ‘conspiracy’ to damage his reputation – the Irish Daily Mail he has been in the UK for the past three months and has ‘made a lot of contacts’.
Dr Hassan is suspended from working in Ireland at present.
Currently, he faces an application by the Medical Council to strike him off the medical register for good.
Dr Hassan appeared to make basic errors during a training session with his colleagues at University Hospital Galway, which led to concerns being raised. He was later described by one medical colleague as no better than ‘someone off the street’.
In January of this year, Dr Hassan was found guilty of 28 counts of poor professional performance and six counts of professional misconduct.
The Medical Council has recommended
‘The whole thing is a conspiracy’
that the High Court strike him off the medical register. Dr Hassan is challenging this in the High Court.
High Court president Mr Justice Kelly will now sit in four weeks’ time to decide whether to approve the Medical Council’s ruling.
Following his previous High Court appearance last month, Dr Hassan responded to allegations about his professional conduct, telling the Mail: ‘Noone died. No-one suffered… The whole thing is a conspiracy.’
He told RTÉ in January that he would ‘always be a doctor’ no matter what.