The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Calls for criminal investigation into allegations against surgeon.
Former patients are seeking criminal investigation after botched op claims
There have been renewed calls for a criminal investigation and public inquiry into allegations made against a former Tayside surgeon.
Professor Muftah Salem Eljamel’s former patients spoke out ahead of a BBC Scotland documentary which will put his time at Ninewells Hospital under the microscope.
Prof Eljamel remains the subject of civil cases in relation to surgery carried out which are still going through the Court of Session in Edinburgh.
Kirriemuir man David Vile, 48, and former Dundee DJ Pat Kelly, 58, have told The Courier a criminal inquiry is “the only way we will finally get to the truth”.
Mr Vile, who previously claimed he had been left on a cocktail of medication after undergoing two discectomy operations by Prof Eljamel in 2007 and 2009, said: “Prof Eljamel carried out failed and botched surgeries, leaving patients with life-changing conditions and disabilities, in long-term persistent pain.
“Former patients and their families need answers as to why Prof Eljamel was allowed to get away with this, who knew what and when, and why was he not stopped sooner?
“Many patients, including myself, have been left unable to work, unable to do many of things that we used to be able to do.
“There are no winners here but the losers are most definitely the patients.
“I also support a call for a criminal investigation – Prof Eljamel needs to be held accountable for his actions.”
Mr Kelly, 58, demanded police launch a criminal inquiry after claiming he was the victim of a “botched operation” by Prof Eljamel in 2007. He continues to suffer chronic back pain and believes the operation was never actually carried out – despite the fact he was opened up on the operating table.
He said: “After four long years of battling with NHS Tayside to get the truth, I believe now that the whole of Scotland has the opportunity to see the personal misery and destruction Muftah Salem Eljamel caused to his patients.
“The documentary will be a wake-up call as this fight for answers continues.”
Today’s documentary is the first in a new investigative series which will be shown on BBC 1 Scotland which will ask “why the surgeon wasn’t stopped earlier”.
Prof Eljamel, who had been a consultant neurological surgeon at NHS Tayside since 1995, was suspended in 2014 after a patient had surgery on the wrong spinal disc at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
There are no winners here but the losers are most definitely the patients
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 General Medical Council later allowed Prof 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 Prof Eljamel and was overwhelmed with calls.
The Scottish Government 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”.
At the start of this year Prof Eljamel sold his house in Newport, Fife, to prepare for a new life abroad.
The 61-year-old also applied for his Edinburgh neurosurgery business to be struck off and dissolved.