Disgraced surgeon quits Tayside home

Eljamel applies for neurosurgery business to be dissolved

A disgraced Tayside surgeon has sold up and packed his bags as he prepares for a new life abroad.

Muftah Salem Eljamel has left Newport and also applied for his Edinburgh neurosurgery business to be struck off and dissolved.

The 61-year-old is understood to have property and a neurosurgery business in America and he also has links to the Philippines.

Mr Eljamel remains the subject of ongoing civil cases in relation to surgery carried out during his time with NHS Tayside which are still going through the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Fife woman Winnie Williamson claimed surgery by Mr Eljamel at Ninewells Hospital ended her 18-year dance career and left her with long-term health difficulties.

“It angers me that he can regenerate a new life when others clearly struggle,” she said.

“I am livid that those who can do and those who can’t will still suffer.

“I never pursued the legal case but will fully support those who continue.

“In the end it looks like money, earnings and arrogance has won again.”

Mr Eljamel – who had been a consultant neurological surgeon at NHS Tayside since 1995 – was suspended in 2014 after a patient had surgery on the

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In the end it looks like money, earnings and arrogance has won again

wrong spinal disc at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.

He also had to step down from his teaching and research posts at Dundee University after the interim order by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service.

The GMC later allowed Mr Eljamel to remove himself from the medical register, after ruling it was in the best interests of patients.

A national hotline was subsequently set up to identify possible victims of Mr Eljamel and was besieged by calls.

The Scottish Government said it was “very sorry” after a series of operations left patients claiming their long-term health had been affected – but it ruled out an inquiry, stating it was “satisfied” that a “thorough and wide-ranging” investigation by NHS Tayside will “prevent this happening again in future”.

Mr Eljamel was involved in a series of controversies after giving up his licence to practise.

He continued to jet around the globe on speaking engagements and faced a suggestion of apparent misrepresentation by Dundee and Liverpool universities.

He is still publishing in the Journal of Neurosurgery using several titles which should not be in his signature, including MD and claiming to be a member of different branches of the Royal College of Surgeons – which he is not.

Mr Eljamel is being represented by the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, which said it was unable to comment on behalf of its member “due to duties of confidentiality”.

NHS Tayside said it was unable to comment on what this will mean for the cases “as this is a legal matter”.

gstrachan@thecourier.co.uk

Muftah Salem Eljamel was suspended from his post at Ninewells Hospital in 2014.