Doctors 'sold' withdrawn slimming drugs

Dr Raizada admits selling tablets to a teenager

Two doctors sold withdrawn slimming drugs at dieting clinics across north-west England, a General Medical Council (GMC) hearing has been told.

It is alleged Dr Sudesh Madan, 52, sold the powerful appetite suppressant to a man who later went on to suffer a heart attack.

The Professional Conduct Committee sitting in central London also heard that Dr Madan's husband, Dr Surendra Raizada, sold the drug to a 15-year-old from the boot of a car.

Both doctors deny acting irresponsibly, making judgments that were against their patients' interests or judgments that were clinically unjustified.

Dr Madan denies serious professional misconduct

The GMC heard Dr Madan, of Prescot, Merseyside, ran the "Look Right" dieting and slimming clinics throughout the North West and Wales.

The clinics were advertised in newspapers as a way to "lose weight safe and fast" using the "latest revolutionary slimming tablet".

The hearing was told Dr Madan sold tablets of Duromine - a drug which had been withdrawn in April 2000 because it was said to have potential links to fits, epilepsy and heart problems.

'Sales goal'

Dafydd Enoch for the GMC said Dr Madan and her husband Dr Raizada, 56, also of Prescot, Merseyside, continued to prescribe it "inappropriately" and from "unsuitable" venues for medical practice.

It is alleged Dr Madan prescribed it to seven patients between April and June 2000.

The patients took a back seat. In every one of the nine cases the sale of the drug was inappropriate

Dafydd Enoch for the GMC

One of these patients Andrew Stott had a heart attack on 5 July 2000 after being told by Dr Madan to continue taking the drugs.

She denies Mr Stott told her he suffered from high blood pressure.

Dr Madan also prescribed the drug to two other patients - one in November 1998 and one in February last year.

None of these patients - with the exception of Mr Stott - should have received Duromine as their body mass index was below the recommended 30 mark, the hearing was told.

Mr Enoch said: "The sale of the tablets was the primary goal at these clinics.

'No excuse'

"The patients took a back seat. In every one of the nine cases the sale of the drug was inappropriate."

In November 1998, Dr Madan unwittingly prescribed the drug to Jill Williams, a professional standards inspector for the pharmaceutical industry.

She later sold Duromine to Amy Binns and Victoria Eglington, two undercover reporters for the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in April 2000.

Miss Eglington who suffers from epilepsy told Dr Madan of her condition but was prescribed the drug anyway, it was alleged.

Mr Enoch said said there was no excuse for Dr Madan, a specialist in slimming management, to be ignorant of the Medicines Control Agency's withdrawal of the drug.

He said: "If she knew about the withdrawal of the licence she continued to prescribe it despite that and if she did not know she should have done."

Dr Raizada admits selling seven Duromine tablets from the boot of his car to a 15-year-old girl on April 17 2000 - more than a week after it had been withdrawn.

He also admits he did not discuss possible side effects, take contemporaneous records of the consultation or the drugs dispensed or advise her to see her GP.

The hearing continues on Tuesday.