Asian Doctor in Britain Charged for Child Sexual Assault

An Asian doctor working in Britain's National Health Service (NHS) has been charged with sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl at a hospital in Norfolk and making indecent photographs of a child.

According to details with the General Medical Council (GMC), Rashid Usman Sandhu, the accused, graduated from Punjab in 2001. He was registered with the GMC since June 11, 2004.

Sandhu, 29, worked as a doctor at the James Paget University Hospital in Gorleston and has now been suspended. He will appear at Great Yarmouth Magistrates' Court Sept 10.

Adrian Pennington, chief executive at the hospital, confirmed that Sandhu had been employed from Aug 2003 to April 2005 as a senior house officer and from May 2006 to the present day as a specialist registrar in the Accident and Emergency Department.

Pennington said: "As soon as the police contacted the trust with serious allegations, a full investigation was launched. The doctor was immediately excluded from duty at the hospital and the trust continues to work closely with the police.

"Prior to employment, thorough checks are made on all our clinical staff. These include checking employment history, clinical qualifications, visa status (if from abroad) and full police checks. I can confirm all these checks were completed in this instance and they did not highlight anything of concern."

"Our trust has robust child protection and audit procedures in place that reflect national policy, and we take a multi agency response to any allegation of this type. Patient safety is paramount.

"Investigations have shown there is no more we could have done to stop this individual allegedly choosing to ignore trust policy and procedure," he added.

A Norfold police spokesperson said: "Investigating officers have been working closely with senior managers at the James Paget University Hospital and have received total cooperation throughout the inquiry."

Source-IANS
LIN/J