Tribunal reprimands medical practitioner, cancels registration

17 Nov 2014

The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal has ordered the cancellation of Dr Nemalan Seshagiri Moodley’s registration as a medical practitioner, and prohibited him from applying for registration for five years.

On 3 December 2012 Dr Moodley was convicted of nine counts of sexual assault between 2003-09 involving six female patients. On 8 January 2013, Dr Moodley was sentenced in the District Court at Ipswich to four years’ imprisonment to be suspended after 16 months.

The former Queensland Medical Board had suspended Dr Moodley’s registration in October 2009 and the Medical Board of Australia had referred the matter to the tribunal for disciplinary proceedings when the criminal matter was concluded.

The tribunal found that Dr Moodley had engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct pursuant to the Health Practitioners (Disciplinary Proceedings) Act 1999 (Qld).

At the time of the hearing the practitioner held non-practising registration as he had been suspended from practice since 2009.

The Board asked the tribunal to cancel Dr Moodley’s registration. Dr Moodley did not participate in the disciplinary proceedings. The tribunal noted the cancellation was protective, not punitive. Given Dr Moodley had not shown any insight or remorse in the criminal proceedings, the tribunal accepted the Board’s submission that it was appropriate to prohibit Dr Moodley from applying for registration for five years.

Dr Moodley had been deported from Australia immediately on his release from prison and has been permanently excluded from Australia by the Department of Immigration and Border Protection.

The Board was awarded its costs of the proceedings.

The full decision is available on the AustLII website.

For more information 

• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 8708 9001 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

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