A DOCTOR has been suspended for making homophobic and racist comments while working at the South West Acute Hospital (SWAH).

Dr. Maninder Ahluwalia was also found to have faked an illness at Daisy Hill Hospital, Newry.

According to the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), Dr. Ahluwalia was alleged to have made the homophobic and racist comments to colleagues at the SWAH between December, 2018, and January, 2019.

It was alleged that the doctor, who trained in India and had worked in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, said he “did not like gays and had nothing to do with them”, or words to that effect, between December, 2018 and January 3, 2019.

Furthermore, in an interaction with colleagues on January 3, it is alleged that Dr. Ahluwalia made one or more comments to another doctor, ‘D’, about his ethnicity and/or nationality which were racist; made one or more comments about a colleague’s sexual orientation or presumed sexual orientation which were homophobic and were aggressive to a colleague, in that he verbally abused D; followed D from the canteen to his office, and shouted and/or swore at D.

In the official record from the MPTS, these actions allegedly amounted to discrimination.

Evidence was given in the tribunal by Dr. Ahluwalia and unnamed doctors.

The tribunal found that Dr. Ahluwalia’s evidence was “unreliable and, at worst, was deliberately misleading and not credible”.

It continued: “In particular, the Tribunal was not impressed by Dr. Ahluwalia’s suggestion that [doctors] C and D had colluded and had fabricated evidence against him, not only for the reasons outlined above, but also because of his insistence that he still regarded D as a ‘good and humble’ man, notwithstanding that he also believed that D had deliberately conspired with C to lie about him.

“This not only did not make sense, but was entirely implausible.

“Similarly, Dr. Ahluwalia’s evidence that he continued to refer to [another doctor] G’s alleged sexuality in order to ‘wind up’ D was likewise senseless and implausible.”

Misconduct

The tribunal determined that the actions amounted to misconduct.

It found that Dr. Ahluwalia “had been aggressive towards a colleague at the same time as making a racist comment about that colleague; and had made homophobic comments about another colleague”.

In determining a sanction for Dr. Ahluwalia, the tribunal found the incident at the SWAH regarding the aggression and racism took place in a public place, and in the presence of members of the public and, potentially, patients.

Finding that the allegations amounted to misconduct, the tribunal suspended Dr. Ahluwalia for 12 months.