Chesterfield doctor who fed heroin habit with bogus prescriptions suspended

Doctor Praveen Alla made out over sixty false prescriptions - later changing IT records so it looked like the prescriptions were made in error and picking up the medications himself.

A tribunal heard the doctor also had other members of staff to pick up the diamorphine for him.

On November 16, 2018 the disgraced GP was confronted by colleagues at Bolsover’s Welbeck Road Practice who became suspicious.

However he claimed to have been blackmailed into the fraud by a patient who had threatened to accuse him of sexual assault.

Two days later Dr Alla admitted the truth to partners at the surgery in a Whatsapp message.

In December 2020 Alla was jailed for 12 months imprisonment suspended for 24 months at Derby Crown Court, having admitted fraud by abuse of position.

Judge Robert Egbuna told Alla: “‘It is clear you were a caring, well thought of and an extremely good doctor. Prior to the offending.

"Your colleagues all describe you in glowing terms. Further supported by additional testimonials and reports submitted on your behalf.”

The tribunal heard the doctor had not worked since his crimes came to light in 2018 and had “effectively” been suspended for four years.

In a witness statement Alla told the tribunal: “I am acutely aware however of the impact my actions and conviction will have had on the trust the public put in the medical profession.

"I know that my actions will have undermined that public trust in doctors and in the medical profession as a whole.

"The fact that my actions have had this impact on the profession that I love is devastating to me.

"I am determined to never find myself in this position again – where I have let myself and the profession down.

"If I am given the opportunity to practise medicine again I will ensure that.”

Alan Jenkins, a lawyer representing Alla, told the tribunal the doctor had “many years of future practice”- while the NHS was under great strain and “crying out” for experienced GPs.

He asked the tribunal to consider how to best serve the public interest and return Dr Alla to practice safely, stressing that the role of the tribunal was not to punish.

The tribunal panel agreed with Mr Jenkins’s submissions that there was a “public interest” in Dr Alla returning to medical practice.

He was evidently a “competent and hardworking GP” who still had a lot to offer the profession.

Concluding the case, the tribunal decided a suspension of three months duration would be “sufficient and appropriate”.

A report on the decision read: “Such a period of suspension would mark the seriousness of the case and send a clear message to the doctor, the profession and public about what is regarded as behaviour unbefitting a registered doctor.”

The tribunal determined to hold a review hearing which would convene shortly before the end of the period of suspension.