Rogue Scottish surgeon Professor Sam Eljamel could be extradited from Libya to face action, says Michael Matheson.
Health secretary Michael Matheson has confirmed he will make a statement in Parliament on Thursday on Professor Sam Eljamel.
Adisgraced surgeon who performed botched operations on hundreds of patients could be extradited back to Scotland, the health secretary has said.
Professor Sam Eljamel is believed to be operating in Libya after he was suspended from NHS Tayside in 2013.
Campaigners, many of whom suffered life-changing injuries, believe more than 200 patients may have been harmed by Prof Eljamel, who worked for the Tayside health board between 1995 and 2013, when he was suspended following three months of “indirect supervision”.
That supervision was deemed “inadequate” by the NHS Tayside report released last week, and he may have operated on more than 100 patients during that complaint process.
Campaingners gathered outside the Scottish Parliament today to call for a Public Enquiry.
Health secretary Michael Matheson has confirmed he will make a statement in Parliament on Thursday on Professor Sam Eljamel.
Adisgraced surgeon who performed botched operations on hundreds of patients could be extradited back to Scotland, the health secretary has said.
Professor Sam Eljamel is believed to be operating in Libya after he was suspended from NHS Tayside in 2013.
Campaigners, many of whom suffered life-changing injuries, believe more than 200 patients may have been harmed by Prof Eljamel, who worked for the Tayside health board between 1995 and 2013, when he was suspended following three months of “indirect supervision”.
That supervision was deemed “inadequate” by the NHS Tayside report released last week, and he may have operated on more than 100 patients during that complaint process.
Campaingners gathered outside the Scottish Parliament today to call for a Public Enquiry.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Hi, my name is Rachel Aymory and I'm a political correspondent at the Scotsman. I'm here at
00:07 South of Scottish Parliament where dozens of patients of Professor Eljamel have gathered
00:11 outside to demand that there's a public inquiry into what exactly went wrong. Now Eljamel
00:15 is a neurosurgeon who used to work at NHS Tayside and is alleged to have carried out
00:19 numerous botched operations and we don't quite know why, which is why there's now this campaign
00:24 outside.
00:25 So, we need a public inquiry. Why? Decades of harm. Could this happen again? Yes.
00:32 As government knows it is, keep talking to us.
00:36 We've been speaking to Jules Rose, she was the last patient we operated on by Eljamel
00:40 and she was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour but ended up having her tear ducts removed
00:44 instead.
00:44 I was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour and I went in for surgery in August 2013. He told
00:51 me it was 99% successfully removed and I believed him. I called him my hero, I thought he was
00:58 God, I thought he was amazing and then he got me back in and told me that it hadn't
01:04 been successful and I then had to go in for another craniotomy and after that I then found
01:11 out that he removed my tear gland instead of the tumour.
01:14 I don't trust any professionals within the NHS at this moment in time. The trust has
01:21 gone. I feel my human rights have been violated, I actually feel raped and I feel like I was
01:27 not given a voice in any of this.
01:29 We've also spoken to Douglas Ross, the leader of the Scottish Conservatives who has been
01:33 supporting the call for a public inquiry.
01:35 The Scottish Government have refused to listen to victims of Eljamel who have been demanding
01:39 a public inquiry for years. There are serious questions that can only be answered with a
01:44 full public inquiry. When I raised this at FMQs before the summer recess, the First Minister
01:48 refused to commit to one. Tomorrow there's a statement from the Health Secretary, nothing
01:52 less than the announcement of the full public inquiry will be acceptable. More and more
01:56 stories coming forward, more brave whistleblowers coming forward and they deserve to get answers
02:01 to their questions which can only come from the Health Secretary and the Scottish Government
02:05 announcing a full public inquiry.
02:07 Now we've also managed to get a chat with Jim Fairlie. He is an SNP backbencher and
02:11 he has said he's going to support the call for a public inquiry. We weren't expecting
02:15 to see him today but we managed to get a quick chat with him as well.
02:17 You can't take a stand and then stand beside it. I decided I had to come down.
02:23 To be fair, this is not a political issue. It should never have been a political issue,
02:27 it shouldn't be a political issue and if people are going to try and make it political then
02:31 they should be ashamed of themselves. Because this is about all these people here who have
02:35 been damaged by a man who should be standing here facing up to what he's done to them.
02:40 Humza Yousaf and Michael Matheson need to give us a public inquiry. They need to show
02:44 us that they are taking what's happened in their healthcare system in Scotland seriously
02:50 and at the moment they're not.
02:52 Did this happen again? Yes! So? We need a public inquiry. Why? Decades of harm.
02:58 [Silence]