Britain - GMC suspends homophobic president of the Islamic Medical
Association for 12 months... [2008-11-03 BBC News]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/west_midlands/7707132.stm

Monday, 03 November 2008

Homophobic GP banned for a year

The head of the Islamic Medical Association (IMA) has been suspended
from medical practice after sending an "offensive and homophobic"
letter.

Dr Muhammad Siddiq has been suspended for 12 months over the letter he
sent to the GPs' magazine Pulse last July.

He wrote gay people needed the "stick of law to put them on the right
path", the General Medical Council was told.

When confronted by Walsall Primary Care Trust, he apologised at first
but later wrongly blamed his son, the GMC heard.

The GMC Fitness to Practice panel, sitting in Manchester, was told Dr
Siddiq also wrote in the letter that gay people were "the root cause
of many sexually-transmitted diseases".

He initially told employer, the Walsall PCT, that he had written the
letter due to intense stress and apologised unreservedly.

However, days later, he said his son had written the letter as a
"spoof" and he had mistakenly signed it without reading it, the
hearing was told.

Dr Siddiq, the IMA president, also told a Pulse journalist he believed
gay people "prey on society" and he thought 99% of Muslim GPs shared
his views.

The GMC also heard that Dr Siddiq refused to accept the findings of an
assessment in April 2007 into his ability to perform minor surgery and
had continued to perform circumcisions at the Luqman Medical Centre in
Walsall, despite being advised not to.

Andrew Popat, chairing the GMC hearing, called the GP's actions
inappropriate and not in the best interests of his patients.

He added that the letter to Pulse was "liable to undermine public
confidence in the medical profession and liable to bring the
profession into disrepute".

He said: "The panel continues to have concerns regarding Dr Siddiq's
insight into his actions."

The ruling took place in Dr Siddiq's absence as he dismissed his
barrister last week and left the GMC, claiming he could not receive a
fair hearing.

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