Suspended doctor says house-call unit at risk

An Auckland doctor suspended for forging his practising certificate says the medical house-call service he set up is likely to collapse because of the bad publicity about him.

Dr Ratilal Magan Ranchhod admitted working without a practising certificate and altering his expired certificate to represent that it was current.

The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, in a decision made public last week, found him guilty of professional misconduct over the events that happened around 14 months ago.

In the decision dated last December, the tribunal suspended him for two months until February 18, censured him, imposed a fine of $7500 and costs of $20,000, and imposed practising conditions additional to those laid down by the Medical Council after concerns about his communication skills, history-taking and cursory examinations of patients.

Dr Ranchhod said yesterday he regretted practising without a certificate and forging a certificate. He attributed his actions to the pressure he was under at the time and not wanting to leave patients without a doctor.

He told the tribunal he had lost control of events and it was only when he "fell off the runaway horse" that matters came to an end.

Dr Ranchhod, who gained his medical degree from Auckland University in 1986, set up Housecall Services in 1998 and is now its manager.

He said it was now Auckland's only specialised provider of after-hours house calls. It provided services to rest homes, private hospitals, police and prisons. Its minimum charge for a visit is $280. It employs three doctors, but at its height had seven.

Dr Ranchhod said it was "difficult to see how we can continue", because of the publicity about his case.

He has not been practising medicine following the end of his suspension.

Medical Council chairman John Adams said it had provided Dr Ranchhod with an interim practising certificate so he could continue practising until May, to get him "back into the usual cycle of application" for an annual practising certificate.

The council has rejected criticism that it was too slow to respond to concerns about Dr Ranchhod, despite 16 complaints about him between 1997 and 2008.

Dr Adams said the council had managed the concerns around Dr Ranchhod's competence effectively.

For 13 of the complaints, the Health and Disability Commissioner either discontinued investigating, recommended no further action be taken, or had resolved the complaint through advocacy, Dr Adams said.

Conditions had been placed on Dr Ranchhod's practice and he had not been suspended after the council decided that was not the best way to rehabilitate him or to protect public health and safety.

The council decided in December 2008 not to issue Dr Ranchhod with an annual practising certificate, but gave him an interim certificate so he could sit the College of GPs Primex exam to prove his competency.

He passed the exam's knowledge section, but failed the practical assessment.

He went on to forge a practising certificate, which he sent to a retirement village where he worked, "thereby representing ... that he had a current [practising certificate] and was able to practise medicine", the tribunal decision said.

Health Minister Tony Ryall last week asked for an urgent report into why it took the Medical Council so long to cancel Dr Ranchhod's practising certificate.