Suspension for homophobic “stick” doc

A homophobic, UK-based, Muslim GP who allegedly thought gays should have a bit of the “stick of the law” to make them see the error of their ways has been suspended.

It should have been by the neck, if what is alleged is true, but the General Medical Council (GMC) has merely suspended him from his job.

Dr Muhammad Siddiq, head of the Islamic Medical Association (IMA) in the UK, has been suspended for a year over the letter he sent to the GPs’ magazine Pulse last July. A story on the BBC news website says:

He wrote gay people needed the “stick of law to put them on the right path”, the General Medical Council was told.

When confronted by Walsall Primary Care Trust [PCT], he apologised at first but later wrongly blamed his son, the GMC heard.

The GMC Fitness to Practi[s]e panel, sitting in Manchester, was told Dr Siddiq also wrote in the letter that gay people were “the root cause of many sexually-transmitted diseases”.

He initially told [his] employer, the Walsall PCT, that he had written the letter due to intense stress and apologised unreservedly.

He then claimed his son had written the letter as a spoof and the good doctor had signed it without reading it.

(Would you trust him to diagnose your scrofula or ingrowing nasal hairs? “Oh, I didn’t actually look at the patient, but thought he ought to take these little pink pills, which I also didn’t look at.”)

The Beeb’s story goes on:

Dr Siddiq, the IMA president, also told a Pulse journalist he believed gay people “prey on society” and he thought 99% of Muslim GPs shared his views.

The GMC also heard that Dr Siddiq refused to accept the findings of an assessment in April 2007 into his ability to perform minor surgery and had continued to perform circumcisions at the Luqman Medical Centre in Walsall, despite being advised not to.

Andrew Popat, chairing the GMC hearing, called the GP’s actions inappropriate and not in the best interests of his patients.

He added that the letter to Pulse was “liable to undermine public confidence in the medical profession and liable to bring the profession into disrepute”.

He said: “The panel continues to have concerns regarding Dr Siddiq’s insight into his actions.”

The ruling took place in Dr Siddiq’s absence as he dismissed his barrister last week and left the GMC, claiming he could not receive a fair hearing.

Perhaps they’ll set up special sharia versions of GMC panels in future. Given that we now have to have double standards in some aspects of law to accommodate misogynistic, gay-hating Muslims, why not in medical practice? If that happens, it will be only a matter of time before cautious patients looking for a GP read the names on the plaque outside the surgery very carefully before they make their choice.