A senior doctor abandoned a patient mid-surgery to engage in a sexual encounter with a nurse in a neighboring theatre, a medical tribunal was informed today.
Consultant anaesthetist, Suhail Anjum, 44, was found ‘in a compromising situation’ with a nurse in the operating room at Tameside General Hospital on September 16, 2023.
Father-of-three Dr Anujm was seen tying up the cord of his trousers.
Another nurse interrupted, finding his colleague, Nurse C, with her trousers lowered to her knees and exposing her underwear.
The Manchester tribunal was advised that Dr. Anjum left a patient undergoing laparoscopic gall bladder removal because he was aware Nurse C ‘was likely in the vicinity’.
Dr. Anjum, who is married and currently practices in Pakistan, expressed his ‘shame and guilt over this terribly embarrassing episode’ and admitted: ‘I don’t know why it occurred.’
‘I don’t know what I was thinking.’
Andrew Molloy, representing the General Medical Council at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service hearing, stated that Dr. Anjum was administering anesthesia for a sequence of five surgeries in Theatre Number Five at the hospital on a Saturday morning.
Mr Molloy said: ‘During the third case, about halfway through the procedure, Dr Anjum left the operating theatre to go for a comfort break.
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Suhail Anjum was caught in a ‘compromising position’ after leaving a patient on the operating table to have sex with a nurse in a nearby theatre (pictured arriving for his misconduct hearing in Manchester today)
Dr Anjum was a consultant anaesthetist at Tameside Hospital (pictured) in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester but is now working back in his native Pakistan
‘This was not an unusual occurrence and Dr Anjum was not the only anaesthetist to do this .
‘When this happens, they would get cover from an anaesthetic nurse.
‘There is no dispute that he indicated to anaesthetic nurse, Nurse SK, that he was going to the bathroom.
‘She was an experienced anaesthetic nurse and the bath room was only a short distance away from Theatre Number Five.’
Mr Molloy say that a scrub nurse referred to as NT went to look for some equipment to prepare for the next procedure in Theatre Number Eight.
He added: ‘Nurse NT encountered Dr Anjum and Nurse C in a compromising position.
‘She described Nurse C with her trousers around her knees and with her underwear on display.
‘Dr Anjum was in the process of tying up the cords of his trousers.
Consultant anaesthetist Suhail Anjum (pictured) admitted that he had left a patient and had engaged in ‘sexual activity’ with a nurse during surgery
‘Nurse NT was shocked and left to return to Theatre Number Five.
‘Dr Anjum returned to the theatre eight minutes later.
‘It is right to say no harm was done to the patient while he was absent from the theatre. The procedure was completed without further incident.’
Mr Molloy said that Nurse NT reported the matter and Dr Anjum was interviewed.
He said that the operating table in Number Eight was pushed up against a wall but there was no suggestion that this had been done by Dr Anjum and Nurse C as it was where the table was usually positioned.
Mr Molloy said that Dr Anjum had admitted that he had left a patient and had engaged in ‘sexual activity’ with Nurse C.
The tribunal has to rule whether his fitness to practise was impaired by alleged misconduct.
Dr Anjum told the tribunal that he was ‘passionate’ about his job but the incident occurred during a period when he and his wife ‘were not connecting as a couple’.
Consultant anaesthetist Dr Suhail Anjum said he felt ‘shame and guilt’ at abandoning a patient on the operating table to have sex with a nurse, telling a tribunal: ‘I don’t know what I was thinking.’
He said that his youngest daughter had been born prematurely and that his wife had suffered trauma during the birth which left him to take on extra family responsibilities.
Dr Anjum said he had agreed to work on that Saturday so he would have a day off during the week to help his family and take his elder children to school.
He told his barrister Fiona Horlick KC: ‘I have never had an complaints against me.
‘This was a unique incident. I cannot express how shameful it is to me.
‘It was a difficult time for me an my wife and that led to certain things happening.
‘It was a difficult and stressful time in our lives.
‘There is a context to this.
‘In Pakistan we had family support but in the UK, we were alone, my wife and I.
Tameside General Hospital where Dr Suhail Anjum was working as a consultant anaesthetist during keyhole surgery to remove a patient’s gall bladder in September 2023 when he was discovered ‘in a compromising position’ with a nurse
‘We did not have that family support.
‘My daughter was born premature which was a stressful experience.
‘I was working full time supporting my wife and my kids.
‘It was exhausting and I was breaking.’
He said he ‘deeply regretted’ the incident and accepted that his conduct had fallen ‘far short of expected standards’.
Dr Anjum added: ‘It has been horribly embarrassing for all concerned.
‘I have let down everybody. It was the lowest point of my career.
‘I am genuinely sorry and shamed and fully recognise the seriousness of my behaviour.
‘It was a one off error and I will never repeat this behaviour.
‘I would like to ensure the panel that it will not happen again but that does not take away the guilt and embarrassment.
‘I have only myself to blame.’
Dr Anjum, who said he would like to return to the UK to resume his career, qualified at the University of Health Sciences in Lahore in 2004 and came to work in the UK in 2011 with positions in Bristol, Milton Keynes and Dartford before moving to the Tameside and Glossop Integrated Trust in 2015.
He left the Trust in October 2024 and worked in Liverpool before returning to Pakistan in January.
The tribunal will hear final submissions tomorrow.
