Outrage as sex assault doctor keeps job again
A SURGEON who kept his licence to practise despite sexually assaulting a student has been reprieved again after he rubbed the chest of a breast cancer patient, triggering fury from anti-abuse campaigners.
Dr Muhammad Ishtiaque was chatting to a young hospital receptionist about her double mastectomy when he moved his hand up and down her, a tribunal heard.
The locum was yesterday suspended from working for two months on top of a year’s ban for forcing himself on the student and trying to kiss her.
He was given a two-month suspended jail term and put on the Sex Offenders Register for five years after being convicted of the attack in 2017.
Neil Henderson of the Safeline charity, which helps abuse survivors, said: “The General Medical Council needs to quickly review and clarify its policy regarding sex offenders to better protect people. I find it alarming that someone convicted of sexual assault and placed on the Sex Offenders Register for five years is still working.’’
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal heard that Dr Ishtiaque, in his 50s, was cleared at Nottingham Crown Court over the second incident, which happened the day after the sex attack.
The Manchester tribunal ruled although the rubbing was not sexually motivated it was “plainly inappropriate”. Dr Ishtiaque, who trained in Pakistan, said his actions were “clumsy” and a misjudgment.
The receptionist said that she does not “feel safe” in the NHS and wants another job.
The GMC said it takes concerns about sexual assault extremely seriously and had called for the doctor’s erasure after his conviction: “After a hearing on the evidence, the independent tribunal decided on a 12-month suspension.”
WINTER WONDERS: Clockwise from left, bats will fly from roost to roost, flowering gorse, hazel catkins, and hibernating butterfly
In a bid to avoid predation on its seeds during the spring and summer, gorse bushes flower all year round, even in the depths of winter.Their flowers have a wonderful, distinctive, coconut scent.
HIBERNATING BUTTERFLIES
Look in your sheds and garages for hibernating butterflies – they’ll be hanging from the roof. Tortoiseshell, peacock and comma butterflies are most common.They look like little dead leaves lined up on the garage roof. Don’t disturb them.
Distributed all over the UK, the first hazel flowers of the year typically appear in January, even before the trees’ leaves have grown.
Look out for the yellow male catkins glowing in the low winter sunlight, and then get up close and search for the beautiful, tiny pink female flowers.