Slimming pills doctor banned

Dr Karim prescribed the banned drug Phentermine

A doctor has been struck off the medical register for a second time after selling banned slimming pills to his patients.

Dr Sheikh Karim was reported to the General Medical Council (GMC) after he kept patients at the Grimsby Slimming Clinic on Phentermine for up to a year - longer than the three-month recommended period.

He also prescribed the drugs at the Chantry Lane clinic without medical advice or any warning of their possible side effects.

Dr Karim, of Wyndham Road, New Waltham, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct at a GMC hearing in Manchester on Friday.

Lawyers had described his actions as "inappropriate and irresponsible".

Jail term

Dr Karim had been struck off the medical register in 1989 for threatening violence towards patients, but was reinstated on appeal.

He was also jailed for three years in 1990 after being found guilty of almost 200 cases of deception while he was a doctor.

On giving their verdict, the GMC panel said: "The committee consider that your behaviour demonstrates a serious falling short of the standards of conduct expected of a doctor.

"A period of suspension would be inappropriate taking into account the following points: the fundamental incompatibility of your behaviour with being a doctor; your serious departure from the relevant professional standards and your persistent lack of insight into the seriousness of your actions and their consequences."

The tribunal concluded: "We have therefore determined that your name be erased from the medical register."

Charges admitted

The doctor faced six charges relating to two of his patients, both from the Grimsby area.

He admitted prescribing Phentermine without carrying out adequate body mass index assessments, without informing the patients' GPs, outside an adequately managed weight loss programme and in the absence of a three-month period of dietary control and lifestyle change.

He also admitted supplying the drug after the licence for the drug was withdrawn, contravening GMC guidelines.

But he denied prescribing the drug without adequate counselling about the risks and benefits.