Infected surgeon risked patients

A surgeon with hepatitis C put patients at risk by carrying out operations against Department of Health rules, the General Medical Council has found.

Mohammad Qamar Sarwar-Rana, from Kings Heath, Birmingham, performed more than 18 procedures, even though he knew he could have infected patients.

The operations took place between 2001 and 2003 at hospitals in Solihull, Lincolnshire, Essex and Bradford.

The locum surgeon could now be struck off the medical register.

Colleagues not informed

The GMC will first decide whether his actions constitute serious professional misconduct.

Mr Sarwar-Rana performed the operations, including circumcisions and a vasectomy, despite the fact he could have passed on the liver condition to patients, the GMC heard.

He ignored government guidelines issued in 2002 banning health workers with hepatitis C from carrying out exposure-prone procedures, where blood from the worker could get into the patient's tissue.

The surgeon knew he had hepatitis C between April 2001 and December 2003, but did not tell the consultants involved in the surgery.

The GMC accepted he had not carried out the procedures in three cases, but ruled it was proved in all the others and that patients had therefore been put at risk.

Anti-viral treatment

Mr Sarwar-Rana worked at staff grade in urology at the King George Hospital, Goodmayes, Essex, a senior health officer in neurology at Solihull Hospital, a registrar in general surgery at the Pilgrim Hospital, Lincolnshire, and a registrar in neurology at Bradford Teaching Hospital NHS Trust.

The surgeon had claimed the agencies through which he got locum work knew about his condition, but the GMC was told it was his responsibility to ensure he did not carry out exposure-prone procedures.

Mr Sarwar-Rana tested negative for hepatitis C on 15 December 2003 after anti-viral treatment.