GP made derogatory comments about Muslim patients

A doctor who accidentally recorded himself making derogatory comments about two Muslim patients in a voicemail has been given a warning by a medical tribunal.

Dr Balvinder Mehat left the comments inadvertently after he phoned a different patient and failed to disconnect the call.

The GP, who is senior partner at Bakersfield Medical Centre in Nottingham, is also currently being investigated by the General Medical Council for circumcising a boy without his father's consent.

Dr Mehat told the BBC he regretted his comments and the warning was "a necessary, appropriate, and proportionate outcome".

The comments were made in the strongest language and included a claim that "these Muslims are very bad" and made a reference to incest.

Dr Mehat, who is Sikh, made the comments while having a conversation with his practice manager on 8 July 2021.

In a statement to the tribunal, Dr Mehat said they were discussing a patient who had been "rude and verbally abusive" in a phone call to another member of staff, and had left a negative online review.

"During the conversation with Ms D [the practice manager], which was in Punjabi, I used language and made comments that I am ashamed of and I apologise unreservedly," Dr Mehat said in his statement.

"I felt angry and upset that the negative review had been posted and I spoke in a way which was derogatory and unacceptable.

"I am truly ashamed."

Dr Mehat's voicemail was later shared with a wider audience by an unknown person.

The GP told the tribunal it was published on social media in August 2023, and he became aware of it when his son's friend sent him the recording on WhatsApp.

"I proceeded to publish an apology on the practice's website and I have personally apologised to members of the local community," he said in his statement.

The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) said the recording had "caused some concern amongst the Muslim population, who represent around a fifth of the practice patient list".

Dr Mehat was brought before the MPTS after being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC).

He admitted two allegations in relation to two comments he made in the voicemail.

He denied his actions had "demonstrated hostility based on race/religion", but the tribunal found the allegation proven.

He also denied that his actions "were motivated wholly or partly by racial/religious hostility" and the tribunal found this allegation was not proven.

Dr Mehat told the tribunal his reference to "these Muslims" meant only the two patients who had complained, rather than Muslim people in general.

"My outburst was about them [the patients] and their actions, which I had found deeply upsetting," he said in his statement.

The tribunal also ruled Dr Mehat's actions had amounted to "serious misconduct", but he had shown "considerable remorse" and his fitness to practise had not been impaired as a result of his comments.

Jetinder Shergill, chair of the tribunal, said: "He has apologised publicly and expressed regret from the time he became aware that the recording existed.

"Further, he self-referred to the GMC at the first opportunity and gave full and frank accounts in his statements.

"He made appropriate admissions, and acknowledged to the tribunal that his language was unacceptable and derogatory."

The GMC's is continuing to investigate a claim Dr Mehat circumcised a child without his father's consent.

The boy needed surgery in hospital after his penis became infected following the circumcision.

Dr Mehat was previously suspended by an MPTS tribunal in 2019 because he circumcised a baby without his mother's consent, after the boy's paternal grandmother took him to have the procedure.

However, Dr Mehat did not lose his job because he was deemed to pose "no risk to patients".

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