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Past patrons’ views sought on Dr. Gamage’s medical clinic
View(s):Public support is to be sought by an Inquiry Panel probing the death of a doctor at a medical clinic that illegally practised cosmetic procedures.
The five-member panel appointed by the Health Ministry on Friday will seek views and suggestions from those who had taken treatment at the medical clinic down Visakha Road, Colombo 4, the Sunday Times learns.
Dr. Gamage
The Private Health Sector Regulatory Council (PHSRC) which met at an emergency session summoned by the Director-General of Health Services, Dr. Palitha Mahipala who is also PHSRC Chairman, appointed the panel, it is understood.
“It will be headed by PHSRC member Dr. Karunasena Hettiarachchi,” said PHSRC Director Dr. Kanthi Ariyaratne who will also be on the panel.
The panel-probe follows the death of Dr. P.A. Priyangi at the ‘Medical Clinic and Dispensary’ run by Dr. Nimal Gamage registered with the PHSRC under the category of ‘full-time General Practice’.
The clinic had been in the name of Dr. V.G.N. Vagith.
“Under the instructions of Dr. Mahipala the registration of Dr. Gamage’s clinic has been suspended until the inquiry is complete. All those who have sought treatment at the clinic will be requested through notices published in the newspapers in all three languages to submit their views and suggestions to the Inquiry Panel,” said Dr. Ariyaratne.
| Conditions set during probation
The conditions placed on Dr. Nimal Gamage by the Medical Board of California during his probation period – the time in which he came back to Sri Lanka — have dealt with ‘Residing or practicing out-of-state’ thus: “In the event petitioner should leave the State of California to reside or to practice, petitioner shall notify the Division or its designee in writing 30 calendar days prior to the dates of departure and return……… “Petitioner’s license shall be automatically cancelled if his periods of temporary or permanent residence or practice outside California total two years. However, petitioner’s license shall not be cancelled as long as he is residing and practicing medicine in another state of the United States and is on active probation with the medical licensing authority of that state, in which case the two-year period shall begin on the date probation is completed or terminated in that state.” Arguing that when he arrived in Sri Lanka in 2009 and began practising he was violating his probation conditions set by the Medical Board of California, medical sources said that it also means that his licence to practise medicine got revoked automatically. |
Past patrons’ views sought…
Dr. Priyangi who died on August 12 after being administered an injection to the neck during an alleged cosmetic procedure to her face was ironically working as a Medical Officer at the Plastic Surgery Unit of the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for Children, Colombo.
Usually, when a medical clinic is registered under ‘full-time General Practice’, the doctor or doctors working there are supposed to treat only minor illnesses such as coughs and colds, medical sources pointed out, adding that cosmetic procedures cannot be performed at such clinics.
Another crucial issue that has come to the fore is the lack of a Specialist Register detailing not only the qualified Specialists in the country but also their field of specialty, another source said, adding that although Dr. Nimal Gamage had allegedly specialised in internal medicine and cardiology in the United States he was practising cosmetic surgery in Sri Lanka.
Already a police probe and a magisterial inquiry are being held and Dr. Gamage has been further remanded till tomorrow. The post-mortem findings, a report from the Government Analyst and a report on the drugs and devices found in the clinic are awaited. The clinic has been sealed.
Dr. Gamage who had obtained his MBBS from the Colombo Medical Faculty in 1982 and had later gone to the United States of America had had his licence revoked in June 1995 by the Medical Board of California, for many malpractices including sexual misconduct and fraudulently creating medical records and insurance claims. He had been placed on a seven-year probationary period with strict conditions since 2005. In 2009, his appeal to terminate his probation had been turned down. It is then that he had come to Sri Lanka violating the mandatory conditions placed by the Medical Board of California. (See box)
A complaint by the Association of Plastic Surgeons of Sri Lanka back in 2011 to the Health Ministry about him had elicited no response. Among Dr. Gamage’s clients had been politicians both male and female and other influential people.