CHILDREN'S DOCTOR SUSPENDED OVER ILLICIT OVERSEAS PRESCRIPTIONS

Consultant paediatrician Sam Lingam, 78, pocketed £11,960 from the operation

A leading Harley Street children's doctor has been suspended after he illicitly prescribed millions of pounds worth of medicines overseas in the mistaken belief he was on a 'humanitarian' mission to help Third World countries.

Consultant paediatrician Sam Lingam, 78, sanctioned 299 different prescriptions for powerful anti-cancer and HIV drugs after he agreed to act as a go-between for a pharmaceutical company and London's King Edwards VII private hospital.

Over the course of 15 months, Russian-born Lingam, of Potters Bar, Hertfordshire, pocketed £40 every time he signed off potentially lethal prescriptions for people he had never met.

The 78-year-old, who arrived in the UK as a refugee in 1970 before working at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, believed the medication was destined for impoverished patients in Africa, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, however many went to First World nations including Canada and Australia.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) eventually launched a criminal investigation into the racket following complaints about Lingam who ran the Medical Express clinic in Harley Street.

It emerged he already had two previous warnings from the General Medical Council (GMC) and the British Medical Association (BMA) about issuing similar 'third party prescriptions'.

Inquiries revealed the pharmacy company he dealt with, Kool Pharma Ltd, was renting the basement at his clinic.

Investigators also discovered that some of the patients Lingam wrote prescriptions for did not even exist whilst some of the medicines, such as chemotherapy agents, were so toxic they could have killed patients if administered incorrectly.

The MHRA concluded that unbeknownst to Lingam, Kool Pharma obtained the prescription medicines in the UK and then sold them at 'great expense' overseas.

His prescriptions alone were said to have amounted to 'millions of pounds worth of drugs'. He himself pocketed £11,960 from the racket - at one stage making £960 in a single day.

When quizzed, Lingam insisted: 'I was only a pawn in this. I really thought I was doing some humanitarian help to people suffering in other countries.

'There was no fraud intended. No financial gain intended. Nothing other than just helping on humanitarian grounds and that's always in my mind.'

At the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) in Manchester, Lingam was condemned for his 'cavalier approach' to prescribing medicines as he was suspended from medical practice for ten months following a nine year investigation.

A previous disciplinary panel in 2022 had allowed to him to carry on working whilst supervised but the High Court sent it back to the MPTS following an appeal. He resigned as a director of the clinic in 2018.

The probe began in 2015 after a new pharmacy manager took over at the King Edward where many senior members of the Royal Family are patients - and began following up on concerns about Lingam's private prescriptions as they had no patient addresses on them.

The manager was told Medical Express was helping overseas patients and prescriptions were written and then collected by officials from Kool Pharma Ltd.

But, it emerged Lingam was prescribing medicines in 'vast quantities' despite being given no details of the patients including their gender, medical history, contact details for their GPs or even proof of identity.

Although he was a paediatrician, he was not deemed competent to prescribe certain 'hospital-only' prescription medications as he was a not a specialist in those relevant areas.

An expert involved in the probe said he was 'prescribing large quantities of potentially toxic medications to patients that he had never seen and would never likely see'.

The medications were frequently of 'high value' to be used for in-patient settings, such as intensive care units, but serious risks were posed to patients including 'extreme possibilities of death' if treatment was not properly monitored.

The MHRA interviewed Lingam and two other doctors at the clinic in 2019 but no criminal action was taken, as investigators at the General Medical Council (GMC) concluded the medics had been 'duped' by Kool Pharma staff.

It emerged Kool Pharma had falsely claimed to the King Edward VII Hospital that the medications were not being delivered to patients overseas but rather the patients were visitors to the UK. Its licence was suspended but subsequently lifted, however.

During the tribunal Lingam insisted he was 'engaged in a humanitarian venture' and he thought the medicines were to go to 'those who otherwise would not have access to them'. He said Kool Pharma told him African countries wanted access to these products and he was happy to sign off some because they were from poorer countries.

After introducing Kool Pharma to Edward VII hospital, staff said it could only provide hospital-only medication to the company if Lingam prescribed it.

He agreed to prepare private prescription forms on which he 'transcribed' information which came to him through Kool Pharma. He said Kool Pharma 'tricked' him and his colleagues and insisted he had no vested or financial interest.

Lingam told the hearing: 'I was convinced I was helping someone get better, that is what doctors do, even if the patient is not in front of you. If you can help and believe you can help that is what you do.

'We thought we were doing something very good for people with incurable, difficult conditions. Some of these were very expensive medications which were difficult to get hold of in many countries and Britain is at the forefront.

'I did a silly thing, I made a mistake and I have let myself down. I have given my life to medicine. I am the first to arrive at work in the morning and the last to leave. I have served and taught, helped overseas students to get into British medicine, provided work experience for prospective medics and had trained three pharmacists. Suspension would be very shameful to me and my family.'

Earlier for the GMC Mr Saul Brody said: 'Prof Lingam adopted a cavalier attitude to remote prescribing and here was a real risk his actions could have led to serious patient harm or death.

'He does not know where the medicines went or whether or not there were any adverse outcomes and he does not fully acknowledge the gravity of his misconduct, nor has he taken responsibility by acknowledging the risks - instead trying to shift blame onto Kool Pharma.'

MPTS chairman Mrs Helen Potts said: 'The tribunal accepts Prof Lingam had taken, at face value, Kool Pharma's explanation that the purpose in obtaining hospital-only medication was to help patients in developing countries to obtain European branded medication which was not available in their own countries.

'This was consistent with his desire to be helpful, which the Tribunal considered to be genuine, if naïve. But his actions put patients at real and unwarranted risk of serious harm and even death.

'By his own admission, his actions had been reckless, and in the view of the Tribunal his approach to remote prescribing had been cavalier.'

She added: 'Prescribing is a privilege that comes with responsibility and the public expects that doctors will prescribe responsibly and safely.

'The Tribunal considered that the public would be appalled to learn that any doctor, not least a doctor of Professor Lingam's experience and standing, had put such a large number of patients at risk of harm and even death by his disregard for basic precepts of safe prescribing.'

2024-04-16T12:27:53Z dg43tfdfdgfd