Ban On Indian-Origin Doctor Caught On Camera For 'Gender Abortion' Lifted In UK

London: An Indian-origin doctor, who was filmed in a sting operation in the UK, agreeing to perform an abortion because the foetus was a girl has been allowed to practice medicine again after a review by a medical tribunal.

Dr Palaniappan Rajmohan had been suspended for three months in October last year after he admitted an abortion based on the gender of a foetus was wrong.

At a routine review hearing last month ahead of the end of his suspension, the UK's Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) ruled that his fitness to practice was no longer impaired after he said he thought he was acting in the best interests of the patient.

He is now free to practice, although his ban will remain on his public record.

In 2012, undercover reporters from 'The Daily Telegraph', acting on specific information, accompanied pregnant women to nine clinics in different parts of the UK.

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A woman, who was 12 weeks pregnant, had an appointment with Dr Rajmohan at the Calthorpe clinic in Birmingham.

She said she wanted to terminate her pregnancy because she and her partner "don't want a girl".

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"Is that the reason," asked Dr Rajmohan.

When the pregnant woman asked if he could put down a different reason for the termination, the doctor said: "That's right, yeah, because it's not a good reason any time. "I'll put too young for pregnancy, yeah?" The patient agreed.

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Last year's Tribunal Service hearing found that Dr Rajmohan agreed to record a false reason for a woman wanting to terminate her pregnancy, which he recorded as "too young for pregnancy".

The panel concluded that the doctor had acted dishonestly and suspended his registration with immediate effect. In a statement read out during his review hearing in January, Dr Rajmohan said: "I'm ashamed and sorry that I have brought disgrace to the profession, public trust and also let down my colleagues, at the same time bringing disrepute to my employing trust."

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He added that he felt he needed to help the patient and was worried about her given her determination that she did not want her pregnancy.

The panel concluded that Dr Rajmohan had "developed sufficient insight" into his past misconduct for it to be "satisfied that the risk of any repetition is low".

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"It has also concluded that the public interest in sending out a signal to you, to other practitioners and to the public that your actions were unacceptable has now been served," the tribunal said.

Accordingly, the tribunal has determined that your fitness to practice is no longer impaired by reason of your misconduct," the Tribunal Service ruling concluded.