Doc faces tribunal over childrens’ cancer diagnosis’

An NHS Forth Valley doctor faces disciplinary action amid allegations he told parents their children had cancer in a bid to scare them into seeking private treatment at a firm at which he was a boss.

Dr Mina Chowdhury, a paediatrician, went before a hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) that began in Manchester on Monday. He is accused of ‘creating an unwarranted sense of concern without clinical justification’ for three patients, providing information in patients’ records that he knew to be false and suggesting private treatment and failing to arrange referrals for treatment under the NHS.

NHS Forth Valley has made clear the complaints do not stem from consultations as part of his work with them.

A spokesperson told the Observer: “We understand these allegations relate to patients who were being seen by this doctor in a private capacity at a clinic in Glasgow. We have carried out our own internal investigation and await the outcome of the hearing.”

It’s also claimed Dr Chowdhury was the managing director and shareholder of Meras Global Ltd and Meras Healthcare Ltd, based in Glasgow, and that his actions in relation to the three patients were ‘both financially motivated and dishonest’.

The complaints are said to related to alleged incidents which occurred between March and August 2017.

In relation to one of the patients, known only as Patient C, it’s alleged that Dr Chowdhury ‘created an unwarranted sense of concern’ by informing the child’s parents that the youngster had a lump attached to the bone in her leg which was a soft tissue sarcoma – a rare type of cancer. The complaint also alleges that he told the parents he ‘knew a doctor in London’ who could arrange for the patient to get an ultrasound scan, an MRI scan and biopsy done ‘in a couple of days’.

He is also alleged to have said that ‘if things are happening it is best to get on top of them early’ when asked by the child’s mother whether they could wait until after their booked NHS scan. Dr Chowdhury said ‘it would be confusing to return back to the NHS’.

He is also accused of making entries in the girl’s medical records that her parents had pressed him for a diagnosis and ‘had expressed thanks for the clinical care given’ which were admitted and found proven.

It remains to be determined that the doctor knew that the information recorded in the medical records was untrue.

In relation to another child, known as Patient B, it’s alleged that Dr Chowdhury, in a consultation with the boy’s parents and grandmother on June 5, 2017, implied that there were ‘potential problems’ with the child’s immune system and white blood cell count.

A week later, during a Skype consultation, Dr Chowdhury is said to have informed the child’s mother that a high level of white blood cells could be due to blood cancer or lymphoma and stated that he thought the boy had a heart murmur and stated that he ‘knew a place in London’ which could provide treatment and added that there were ‘no places in Scotland where echocardiograms could be performed on children’.

He did not suggest an alternative route of investigation for the symptoms and failed to recommend immediate referral to the local NHS paediatric oncology service.

Chowdhury admitted to recording in the patient’s records that his parents were concerned about his weight loss, but it’s alleged that he knew the information to be false.

In relation to the third child, Patient A, Dr Chowdhury is said to have told the girl’s mother that she had in her stomach neuroblastoma, a type of cancer that forms in certain types of nerve tissue, which ‘could spread if left untreated’ and added ‘We are now going to have a serious conversation. We are going to have the conversation that all parents dread. We are going to talk about the ‘C’ word’ or words to that effect, in August 2017.

He then advised the girl’s mother that she needed to undergo a number of blood tests, costing £3245 and advised them to travel to London for an MRI scan and did not discuss referral to an NHS consultant for further investigation or treatment.

Our sister title, the Daily Record, tried to approach Dr Chowdhury for comment at his Glasgow home but he could not be reached.

The tribunal is set to run until November 1.