Liquidator shuts clinic over debt to cleaner

THE liquidator appointed to manage My Family Doctors says the Kirwan clinic will not reopen.

The Townsville Supreme Court made a winding- up order and appointed Robert Humphreys as liquidator on Tuesday, as the company owed $ 92,224 to former cleaner Vinesh Prasad.

My Family Doctors, whose director Dr Praveen Kumar is suspended from medical practice and on bail for unrelated criminal charges, was also $ 5444 in debt to WorkCover.

Mr Humphreys told the Townsville Bulletin that when he attended the Thuringowa Rd clinic, there was a closed sign and the door was locked.

“I had a meeting with the director of the company and the practice manager regarding the current trading status of the business,” he said.

“The director and practice manager were unable to provide me with the information I required to determine the viability of the business. The clinic will not be reopening.”

Mr Prasad took the clinic to the magistrates court last month, alleging it only paid his invoices irregularly from 2014.

“When I spoke with ( Dr Kumar) about payment of my invoices, he would always say to me words to the effect that ‘ the company is having financial difficulties, can you please bear with me and I will pay you when I can’,” he wrote in documents filed with the court.

My Family Doctors filed a defence saying Mr Prasad had forged his contract, but the court found in the cleaner’s favour and ordered the clinic pay. Mr Prasad made a statutory demand for payment within 21 days, which the practice did not comply with.