GMC gives 'incompetent' doctor who caused death the go-ahead to

A Birmingham GP whose "gross and criminal incompetence" led to the death of a nine-year-old boy during a religious circumcision has been given the go-ahead to resume his career.

The General Medical Council's professional conduct committee took less than three minutes yesterday to decide to remove conditions imposed on the registration of Dr Mahbubul Alam.

The GP, of Vernon Avenue, Handsworth Wood, received a suspended sentence at Stafford Crown Court more than four years ago after he admitted the manslaughter of Raju Miah.

He told the committee that over the past five years he had learned a lesson and wanted to be able to perform very minor surgery in his work as a locum GP for a practice in Oldbury.

Assuring the committee, which sat in London, that he would never again perform any form of circumcision, he said he wanted to be able to work in unrestricted practice during the 18 months until his intended retirement.

Mr Tim Rider, solicitor to the GMC, told the committee that Dr Alam, aged 63 and a father-oour, had appeared on March 3, 1994 at Stratford Crown Court where he pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Raju.

He was sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for 12 months and ordered to pay pounds 3,000 costs.

During the circumcision operation, Dr Alam had administered six times the recommended dosage of diamorphine and overdoses of other drugs.

"If he had consulted the British National Formulary or other reference books, he would have known that these doses were totally inappropriate for a boy of Raju's age and weight," said Mr Rider.

To make matters worse, when the youngster failed to regain consciousness, he just put the boy in his car and drove him the short distance home, leaving him there solely in the care of his family, said Mr Rider.

Raju collapsed without ever regaining consciousness and died on August 7, 1991.

The crown court judge described Dr Alam as criminally incompetent and grossly negligent but said references from patients showed he was a very caring GP and had not realised the risks he was taking.

Dr Alam had appeared at a previous GMC hearing in November 1994, which suspended his registration for eight months.

After a further hearing in July 1995 his registration was made conditional for three years on him taking a diploma course in therapeutics and not working unsupervised as a GP.

Announcing yesterday's decision, committee chairman Sir Herbert Duthie said it was pleased at the evidence showing Dr Alam had complied with the conditions of his registration and the steps he had taken to improve his knowledge and skills.

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