A doctor who abandoned a patient undergoing surgery to have s£x with a nurse is at “very low risk” of repeating such misconduct, a medical tribunal has ruled.
Dr. Suhail Anjum, 44, was caught in a “compromising position” with an unnamed nurse after leaving a patient under general anaesthetic at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.
The consultant anaesthetist had asked another nurse to monitor the patient so he could go to the bathroom, but instead went to another operating theatre where the sexual encounter with Nurse C took place on 16 September 2023.
Dr Suhail Anjum, originally from Pakistan, was arraigned before a medical tribunal for ditching an ongoing operation to have fun.
He was caught by a colleague while he was pleasuring one of the nurses in another theatre, not in use.
Anjum, 44, admitted to abandoning a patient under anaesthetic during an ongoing surgery to have sex with a nurse.
The incident happened at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom in September 2013.
Anjum told colleagues he needed a short break and asked a nurse to monitor the patient in his absence.
The nurse who caught them in a compromising position told the General Medical Council (GMC) that the two had just finished sex when she entered.
According to her, the nurse, identified as Nurse C, still had her trousers around her ankles, while Dr Anjum was tying up his own trousers.
The council was told that the patient, fortunately, did not have any emergency requiring Dr Anjum’s attention during his absence.
He was said to be away for roughly eight minutes before returning.
The nurse who caught them reported her findings to the hospital management.
Dr Anjum left Tameside Hospital and returned to Pakistan, even though he expressed his intention to resume his career in the UK.
When he appeared before the panel in Manchester, he regretted his action, calling it “quite shameful”.
The disgraced medical practitioner lamented that he let down not only his patient, but also his colleagues and himself.
Anjum said it was a one-off error of judgment which he wished he could reverse. He apologised to everyone affected.
At a Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing, a colleague testified to seeing Nurse C “with her trousers around her knee area with her underwear on display” and Dr. Anjum “tying up the cord of his trousers.”
Anjum was away from the operating room for eight minutes, and the patient suffered no harm.
The incident was reported to management, and he was dismissed in February 2024 after an internal investigation.
Last week, Anjum told the tribunal he wanted to resume his medical career in the UK after moving back to Pakistan with his family, where he has been working as a doctor.
He called the incident a “one-off error of judgment,” saying, “It was quite shameful, to say the least. I only have myself to blame. I let down everybody, not just my patient and myself but the trust and how it would look.
As quoted by the Guardian UK, tribunal chair Rebecca Miller said Anjum “had put his own interests before those of the patient and his colleagues” and that the encounter “had the potential to distract Dr Anjum … and he may not have been able to give his full attention to the patient’s care.”
She described his conduct as “significant enough to amount to misconduct that was serious,” but said the risk of it happening again was “very low.”
No sanction was imposed on Anjum, though the tribunal will reconvene in Manchester on Tuesday to decide whether to issue a formal warning on his registration.
