Hove GP claimed tests by medical council were 'biased' (From The Argus)

Hove GP claimed tests by medical council were 'biased'

7:34pm Wednesday 7th January 2009

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A bungling GP branded “deficient” by the General Medical Council for failing competency tests claimed she was left traumatised by the “biased” exams.

Dr Krishna Rukmani, 63, was said to have performed badly in 11 areas including treating emergencies and communicating with patients.

She “failed to “demonstrate an improvement” and allegedly tried to hide the GMC’s findings when trying to join GPs’ lists.

Dr Rukmani, who qualified in Calcutta in 1975, also failed to turn up to a second set of competency tests in 2007, claiming she was sick.

The doctor told the GMC how she had been left physically traumatised by the competency tests and lacked “courage” to return.

She said: “I did not go to the second part of the assessment, the practical, because the way they were harrassing me. I just could not tolerate any more. I don’t think any doctor could have taken any more stress of that kind.

“After that first assessment, my voice and hands have become permanently trembling.”

Dr Rukmani was working as a GP in Hove when she was reported to the GMC in November 2003 following a series of blunders.

She was suspended from the Brighton and Hove Primary Care Trust and later ordered by the GMC to take a series of tests to prove her ability.

It was found she was “deficient”

in a number of areas including checking a patient’s condition and providing treatment. Dr Rukmani was told she should not work as an independent and unsupervised practitioner. The GMC also ordered her to tell all employers about the findings against her and the requirements on her registration.

But in October 2005, Dr Rukmani made an application to join Thurrock PCT’s medical performer list.

The PCT refused her application and less than a year later Dr Rukmani tried to get on another doctors’ list in Basildon.

But she made no reference to the requirements or the proceedings against her, the panel heard.

Dr Rukmani denies failing to disclose the GMC case against her to Basildon PCT and breaching undertakings she made following the initial hearing in 2004.

She also denies “not demonstrating an improvement” in her practice and disagrees her professional performance was “unacceptable”.

Dr Rukmani also denies misconduct and that her practice is “deficient”.

The hearing continues.

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