A doctor who tried to pressurise patients into buying "wonder" health supplements has been barred from practice.

The General Medical Council's professional conduct committee found James Chacko, 62, guilty of a 'flagrant breach' of his professional standards by putting pressure on two female patients to buy products in which he had a financial interest.

The two-day hearing was told that when 22-year-old Julie Hodgson consulted Dr Chacko at his surgery in High Street, Hailsham, in 1996 about her pregnancy, he persuaded her to buy the product Now on the basis it would be beneficial both for her pregnancy and her skin problems.

The committee found that the doctor placed improper pressure on Mrs Hodgson to buy the product and failed to disclose that he had a financial interest in it. Further, she subsequently discovered her name had been put forward as a distributor of the product, without her consent.

The committee also found Dr Chacko, of London Road, Hailsham, guilty of serious professional misconduct over his attempts to persuade another patient, Angela Spiers, to buy another product, Ultrim-Plus, when she consulted him for advice about her teenage son in August 1996.

Again, Dr Chacko failed to disclose to Mrs Spiers that he had a financial interest in the product. Mrs Spiers told the hearing she felt under such pressure that the only way she could escape from the consultation was to buy the product from him for £15.

Dr Chacko later phoned Mrs Spiers in attempts to persuade her to buy more Ultrim-Plus and to become a distributor of the product, which discouraged her from attending his surgery for fear of being subjected to further pressure.

When she finally did consult him again in February 1997 and raised concerns about a lump in her throat, he failed to examine her and instead launched into another attempt to persuade her to buy more Ultrim-Plus.

In a separate charge, the committee found Dr Chacko guilty of indecent and improper behaviour towards a patient identified only as Mrs A, when she consulted him about her daughter's health on January 13, 1998.

Mrs A told the hearing that, as she held her four-month-old baby in front of her and in the presence of her three-year-old daughter, the doctor grabbed her head, and kissed her full on the mouth and tried to put his tongue inside her mouth, causing her great distress.

Dr Chacko, who had denied all the charges except improper behaviour towards Mrs A, was cleared only of attempting to persuade pregnant patients to consume products with Vitamin A.

Announcing the decision to suspend the doctor's registration for 12 months, committee chairman and council president Sir Donald Irvine told him his behaviour had been "wholly unacceptable".

Dr Chacko has 28 days to appeal.