Medical Council president must resign - Frank Portelli

Dr Frank Portelli, the CEO of St Philips Hospital, is insisting that the president of the Medical Council must resign over the council’s decision to erase his name from the medical register unless he pays a fine, a decision which, he said, was null and void.

The decision was over a letter Dr Portelli wrote to Dr Louis Buhagiar in his capacity as hospital CEO on July 16, 2003 informing Dr Buhagiar he was being suspended from St Philips Hospital because of “repeated complaints we had received about the professional fees Dr Buhagiar was charging patients”.

Dr Portelli said that the letter suspending Dr Buhagiar from St Philips Hospital was not written in his personal capacity since no doctor could suspend another unless he occupied a position of authority, but in his capacity as a CEO of St Philips. So the Medical Council acted outside the powers ascribed to it by law.

“The President of the Council Dr Josella Farrugia signed the decision of the Medical Council condemning me to a punishment of a fine of €10,000, together with a conditional punishment that if this fine is not paid by October 1 my name will be erased from the medical register.”

The decision fining him, Dr Portelli said, stated that it was according to the Medical Council (Penalties) Regulations 2009 when the law quoted actually pertained to the Commissioners for Justice Petitions (Local Tribunals) (Amendment) Regulations, 2009.

As it was a requisite of the law that the article of the law being breached had to be quoted when a judgement was delivered, the sentence in his regard was null and void, he said.

“I expect that the only honourable way out is for the president of the Medical Council to resign from the position which she holds having been appointed to this position in the first instance by the Prime Minister,” Dr Portelli said.