A tribunal found a Pakistani doctor’s use of ‘clumsy and misdirected’ language, including comments about ‘white folk’ and references to female coworkers as ‘beautiful creatures,’ to be in violation of the law. Nevertheless, the doctor was exonerated of any wrongdoing.
After comparing a doctor and a nurse to the “sun and moon in an eclipse,” Dr. Siddick Dulloo, 69, was accused of making sexually provocative statements. He further said, “I am just jealous I couldn’t come in the middle – I wish I was a sister or a nurse so I could have joined you.”
In another instance, Dr. Dulloo, an associate specialist in renal medicine, commented in Urdu on a ward at North Manchester General Hospital about “white folk spending thousands of pounds going abroad to gaze at beautiful things” before continuing in English: I had assumed they could visit North Manchester Hospital for just £2.
The phrase “beautiful things” at the hospital seemed to refer to a conversation between two female coworkers, about which Dr. Dulloo claimed he was “jealous” that he was “unable to intervene in the middle.”
Staff members later complained about Dr. Dulloo, a native of Karachi, to NHS officials. They also claimed that he was making “grunting” and “groaning” noises when speaking. They also alleged that he had secretly taken a photo of a single female coworker on his phone and threatened to make them feel uncomfortable in any future interactions.
Dr. Dulloo of Prestwich, Manchester, who has since resigned from medical practice, was accused of sexual misconduct at the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service but was found not guilty after a disciplinary hearing. He had faced the ruin of his career.
He acknowledged that his comments were “inappropriate,” but he placed the responsibility on his use of the English language and said that he was only trying to start a conversation about the eclipse because he had heard a news report about it that morning.
The panel ruled that the doctor had “accidentally” snapped the mobile phone image while swiping a screen on his phone to speak to his builder and speculated that the grunting and moaning noises may have resulted from the doctor speaking in a “low tone voice.”
The hearing was informed that the incidences happened in July 2019 while Dr. Dulloo, who earned his medical degree in 1983, was employed on Hospital Ward 5.
Dr. A, a medical professional, claimed that Dr. Dulloo made her jealous and stated, “Oh, you’re making me jealous; I want to get in the middle of that; I wish I was a nurse or sister so I could join in,” before sighing.
He allegedly started talking to Dr. A. two days later in Urdu, saying, “Oh you know these white folk, they spend thousands of pounds going abroad to look at beautiful things,” before switching to English to say, “I was saying, these white (folk) spend so much money going to Philippines or Thailand, but I was thinking they could just spend £2 and come to North Manchester Hospital.”