- By Shivangi Sharma
- Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:16 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
A senior anaesthetist who abandoned a patient under general anaesthetic midway through surgery to have sex with a nurse has been found guilty of serious misconduct but escaped the harshest penalties. Dr. Suhail Anjum, 44, a consultant anaesthetist and married father of three, was caught in a compromising position with a nurse at Tameside Hospital in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester.
The shocking incident took place on September 16, 2023, when Dr. Anjum asked a colleague to monitor a male patient so he could “go to the bathroom.” Instead, he went to another operating theatre, where sexual activity occurred with the unnamed nurse, referred to during proceedings as Nurse C.
A colleague who walked in on the pair described seeing the nurse with her trousers around her knees and underwear exposed, while Dr. Anjum was tying the cord of his trousers. He was absent from the operating room for about eight minutes. Fortunately, the patient came to no harm during the lapse.
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Tribunal Findings And Admission
At a recent hearing by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS), Dr. Anjum admitted the allegations and expressed deep regret. “I only have myself to blame,” he told the panel, calling the episode “quite shameful.” He admitted letting down not only his patient but also his colleagues and the hospital trust.
The tribunal found him guilty of serious misconduct, noting that he had placed his own interests above those of his patient and professional responsibilities. Tribunal chair Rebecca Miller highlighted: “He left a vulnerable patient unattended in the middle of an operation and placed his own interests before those of his patient and colleagues.”
Professional Consequences
Dr. Anjum had already been dismissed from Tameside Hospital in February 2024 following an internal inquiry. Reports suggest that his family relocated to Pakistan after the scandal broke, though the doctor expressed his desire to continue his medical career in the United Kingdom.
Despite the gravity of the offence, the panel assessed Dr. Anjum as being at “very low risk” of repeating such behaviour. They noted that the stigma and professional scrutiny he has endured would weigh heavily on him. “Members of the public and the profession would understand the high level of scrutiny to which Dr. Anjum has been subjected,” Miller explained.
Dr. Anjum, who qualified as an anaesthetist in Pakistan in 2004 before moving to the UK in 2011, admitted his actions have permanently damaged his reputation.