28 April 2018 02:25 pm
The Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) pulled up the case after noticing that British Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Richard Permin did not possess a licence to practice medicine in the UK as the licence needed to be renewed from time to time.
A spokesman for the SLMC told Daily Mirror that in the UK, doctors needed to be registered with its Medical Council and there is also a practising licence which needs renewing periodically.
He said however, unlike in the UK, only the SLMC’s registration is needed to practice as a doctor in Sri Lanka and the SLMC had registered him in 2009 after which it has been renewed on a number of occasions.
“In 2012, the UK introduced a new system where you could obtain a practising licence based on performance and a doctor cannot practice in UK without that licence. We have made inquiries from the GMC about this. Until recently, in the UK too you only need the GMC registration to practise,” he said.
He said Dr. Permin had been registered with the GMC until 2019, however, his practising licence was valid only until 2015 and added that there was no need for such licence to practice medicine in Sri Lanka as being registered with the SLMC would suffice, a stipulation that he has fulfilled.
“Since this issue had been raised, the SLMC has decided to give him three months to get his practising licence renewed. However, Dr. Permin has practised medicine in Sri Lanka since 2009. Therefore, we have decided to recommend that the Director General of Health Services institute action against him if there has been or is any issue with his practice which could risk patients’ lives in the future,” he said. (Kalathma Jayawardhane)