Durban - A Durban doctor, accused of assaulting a patient’s grandmother last year, has been fined R20 000.
Ear, nose and throat specialist Niven Singh, of Life Mount Edgecombe Hospital, also received a one-year suspension from practising, wholly suspended for three years, at a Health Professions Council of SA hearing in uMhlanga on Wednesday.
Singh was found guilty of two counts of unprofessional conduct after he made Thaivanamal Naidoo pay upfront for a consultation and also allegedly assaulted her last July.
Naidoo testified that he grabbed her and pushed her into a corridor, where she lost her balance and fell.
She had taken her two-year-old grandson to see the doctor and the pair had an argument.
Singh’s lawyer, Altus Janse van Rensburg, argued that the R500 Naidoo had paid was not an upfront fee but a deposit. Earlier, Singh had denied charging the fee upfront, but when it emerged a receipt was issued, he said Naidoo had offered to pay the fee.
“The receipt is only proof of one thing, that is, ‘I have paid the money’. That is not an invoice, it is not proof that a fee has been charged. That deposit is kept separate; there is no suggestion that Dr Singh appropriated that money,” Janse van Rensburg said.
Offering mitigating circumstances, Janse van Rensburg said: “Dr Singh admits that he should not have done that and he has changed his ways. He does not do it any more… he only takes the money once the consultation is over.”
The council’s advocate, Meshack Mapholisa, had asked for Singh to be removed from the health professions register. He said the council had to send a strong message that it would not tolerate misconduct.
“Remove Dr Singh from the register of the Health Professions Council. His conduct brought this profession into disrepute; such behaviour is viewed as very serious.”
He said the public had lost confidence in the council, as health practitioners were not given harsher sentences.
Regarding the outcome of the case, Singh said his image had been tarnished but he was relieved it was now over.
Naidoo declined to comment on the judgment: “It is not for me to judge but the Almighty.”
The Mercury