Doctor struck off for trying to bribe patient with £5k

An Essex doctor has been struck from the medical register after being jailed for perverting the course of justice.

Dr Mukhtar Hussain was jailed for 14 months earlier this year after he tried to bribe a patient with £5,000 to withdraw claims that he had sexually assaulted her, a tribunal heard.

Dr Hussain, who qualified in Pakistan and worked as a GP in the Chelmsford area for 19 years, stood trial and was found not guilty by a jury of sexual assault.

But on 2 March 2023, he admitted committing an act with intent to pervert the course of justice, and was sentenced on 5 February this year.

A Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) misconduct hearing heard in November that between 1 March and 1 November 2020, Dr Hussain had visited the complainant, referred to as "Patient A", at her home on numerous occasions for medical examinations.

A police investigation was launched in January 2021, after Patient A claimed Dr Hussain had sexually assaulted her during home visits. The woman said she lived "in fear" of the doctor and changed GP surgeries.

Dr Hussain denied sexual assault and was acquitted by a jury at trial. But before this took place, he went to the woman's house on 12 April 2021 and "begged her" to speak to him.

The misconduct hearing heard Dr Hussain told the woman not to involve the police and they should "sort out the issues between [themselves]".

He then took out an envelope containing £5,000 in cash and a USB stick containing an email he had written for her to send to the police, claiming the issue was a "misunderstanding" and to withdraw the allegations.

In his sentencing remarks, Judge Richard Wilkin said Dr Hussain had tried to get the patient's case dropped "by seeking both to emotionally manipulate her in what [he] discussed with her, including about her religion" and "pay her off".

The woman was left "freaking out, shaking, scared and on edge" after the visit, the misconduct hearing was told.

After admitting the charge in 2023, Dr Hussain was sentenced at Chelmsford Crown Court by Judge Wilkin on 5 February 2025 to 14 months in prison.

Rachel Jones, chair of Dr Hussain's misconduct panel, concluded that he posed a "high" ongoing risk to the public if he continued as a GP.

Ms Jones said Dr Hussain had shown "limited" insight into his actions, and as Judge Wilkin said during sentencing, the doctor's attitude was one of "downplaying your offending" and that he was sorry to be caught, "but nothing more than that".

The panel concluded that Dr Hussain's immediate erasure from the medical register was necessary "to properly protect public confidence" in medicine.