A surgeon who worked at University Hospital Limerick while he was not registered in the State as a medical practitioner has been found guilty of professional misconduct.
A fitness-to-practice inquiry heard that Dr Motaz Kabadaya worked at the hospital between February and June 2011 and carried out dental surgery on Breda Flannery about May 23rd of that year.
Dr Kabadaya failed to pay his annual registration fee of €490 to the Medical Council from July 2010 to June 2011. Under the Medical Practitioners Act, it is a criminal offence to practice as a doctor in Ireland without being registered with the council.
Dr Kabadaya, an Irish and Egyptian citizen, was not present at the inquiry on Monday due to the recent death of his brother and had no legal representation. The inquiry heard that he did not object to the inquiry proceeding in his absence and that he acknowledged and apologised for his mistake.
In correspondence read out to the council, Dr Kabadaya said he was “guilty of negligence” for not paying the registration fee. He said that after the economic crash he was in a “very bad condition” financially and saw a significant drop in his wages.
Dr Kabadaya said the bank was threatening to take his house and he had a wife and children to provide for. He said most of his work was in Ireland and the UK and that this was the first complaint against him in 35 years.
Dr Kabadaya previously worked in St James’s Hospital, St Michael’s Hospital Dún Laoghaire, the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda, Cavan General Hospital and University Hospital Galway.
He was educated at Trinity College Dublin and in 2009 was made a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
Dr Kabadaya said he was one of the top 10 oral maxillofacial surgeons in the country and that he left Ireland in the summer of 2011 to work in Saudi Arabia, where he is now employed.
Majella Hogan, from the administration department at University Hospital Limerick, said Dr Kabadaya worked at the hospital between July 2009 and August 2011 as a registrar in oral and maxillofacial surgery.
She said the hospital checks that its doctors are registered with the Medical Council before commencing employment and receives a list from the HSE or the council of those removed from the register.
However, Ms Hogan said the hospital was not able to assess whether it had all records in relation to Dr Kabadaya being removed from the register.
Prof Stephen Lane, respiratory consultant at Tallaght Hospital, gave expert evidence and said doctors of medicine that are not registered present “a risk to the patient” and it is a matter “taken very seriously”.
He said where a doctor is practicing and not registered, prescriptions, medical certificates and insurance could be deemed invalid.
Prof Lane said it was “very unusual” for doctors to practice while unregistered.
“It is very common for them not to register. But it would be a huge concern if we had a whole football team of doctors of medicine actually practicing in Ireland that weren’t registered.”
Prof Lane said “it was a perfect storm for this doctor” in terms of the personal and financial difficulties he was facing at the time and that “it wasn’t in the character of this doctor”.
“He seems to be a very responsible person who went through difficult personal circumstances,” he added.
