Dr. Amir A. Bhatti – improving our NHS?

weekend blog

I have written about this issue before. But we keep on getting more stories where the same thing is happening.

Here we go again

At least 20 women being treated for cancer had their breasts removed unnecessarily, the County Durham and Darlington Foundation Trust (CDDFT) has admitted. The women have described feeling “mutilated” and “butchered” by the breast unit.

The trust identified 315 patients harmed, 77 of whom were significantly harmed during breast cancer treatment, a BBC investigation revealed. Amir Bhatti, a consultant, who was CDDFT’s clinical lead for breast services from 2013-2024, has been suspended from carrying out clinical practice.

The trust said it had launched an internal review of breast cancer cases between January 2023 and February last year, describing the failings as “utterly unacceptable”. The trust said it may extend the scope of the review to look at up to 10,000 cases dating back to 2015.

Pakistan’s finest?

That got me wondering in which world-class medical school did the good doctor get qualified. It turns out (unsurprisingly?) that Dr. Amir A. Bhatti qualified as a doctor at the University of Punjab in Pakistan, earning his MB BS (Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery) in 1989.

He later moved to the UK, where he completed his postgraduate medical and surgical training within the Cambridge and Birmingham deaneries before becoming a Consultant General Surgeon.

Pakistan’s culture rears its ugly head yet again?

Now let’s just have a short but possibly relevant digression:

On 22 May 2020, Pakistan International Airlines Flight 8303, a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Lahore to Karachi, crashed while on approach to Jinnah International Airport Karachi, killing 97 out of the 99 people on board as well as an additional person on the ground. The aircraft, an Airbus A320 with 91 passengers and 8 crew members on board, was on an unstable approach to Jinnah International Airport, with an excessively high airspeed and altitude. The aircraft subsequently belly landed nearly half-way down the airport runway as the captain forgot to lower the landing gear. I’m not a trained pilot. But I imagine that lowering the landing gear when landing is a rather basic requirement. Then the flight crew conducted a go-around. During the go-around, both engines started to fail due to damage sustained during the belly landing. Whilst attempting to land back on the runway, the aircraft lost airspeed and crashed into buildings. Following the ‘accident; Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) grounded roughly 150 of its 434 pilots (nearly one-third) in June 2020 after an official government investigation revealed they held “dubious” or fake licenses. Aviation authorities found these pilots had cheated on examinations or paid others to sit the tests on their behalf.

I propose that there similarities between pilots and surgeons. Both are responsible for many lives during their careers and both have to undergo intensive training and tests to be qualified and retain their permissions to work. If Pakistan’s system for developing pilots is so corrupt, that’s a good reason to suspect that the same culture of corruption is rife in the country’s medical schools.

Now Britain’s NHS.

From the little I understand, many of Britain’s best doctors are leaving for countries like Australia, Canada and New Zealand where they can get a lot more money and a more relaxed lifestyle than Britain can offer. But this is apparently no problem as the NHS is recruiting many doctors from some of the world’s most worthless and corrupt countries. As far as I know, there has never been any investigation into how these doctors achieved their qualifications – whether honestly, or by cheating or by paying bribes. But given the morality of the countries many of these doctors come from, one might be justified in feeling concern about whether all these doctors are actually qualified.

We can perhaps get a hint as to whether there might be a more than minor problem by looking at the names of doctors attracting the attention of the General Medical Council (GMC) for questionable work. Here are the names and qualifications just for July 2026:

July 2026

Adnan Qamar SULTAN – MB BS 2003 University of Health Sciences Lahore – Nishtar Medical College Multa

Harvinder KUMAR – MB BS 2020 KLE. Academy of Higher Education & Research – Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College

Godage Ajith Prasanna Kumara APPUHAMY – MB BS 2007 University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Mahdi Abdel Mohamed HALIM – MB BS 1985 University of Khartoum

Vitali Panteleevich MALINOVSKI – Vrach 1988 Kujbisevskij Medicinskij Institute

Abdulmumin Ohida YAKUBU – MB BS 2003 Ahmadu Bello University

Craig BOWDITCH – MB ChB 2021 University of Sheffield

Kiran Roy BUNDHOO – MB BS 2007 University of London

Chalint MOCHAMENT ALI SAOUGKI – qualified at The National Ribat University (Sudan)

So, seven (78%) out of the nine doctors who got into trouble with the GMC in July 2026 were ‘educated’, or rather let’s say ‘got their qualifications’ in some of the world’s most useless and corrupt countries. And eight of the nine (89%) have names which suggest they are not fifth-generation British.

While researching this blog, I was shocked/amazed to learn that approximately 42% of licensed doctors working in the UK were trained overseas. The General Medical Council (GMC) reports that roughly 138,400 internationally qualified medical professionals now make up the workforce.

Of course, just one month’s results may not be representative. But if you look at the list of doctors in trouble with the GMC (link below) you’ll see that the majority appear to come from countries not usually known for their high standards of morality or medical expertise:

You can see the whole list here:

https://www.gmc-uk.org/concerns/hearings-and-decisions/gmc-decisions#Warnings

So, is there a problem with possibly unqualified Third-world ‘doctors’ employed by our NHS which is the envy of the world? Have a look at the list of GMC warnings (link above) and make up your own mind.