Sharjah psychiatrist loses licence for inciting young people to take drugs

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

The Ministry of Health and Prevention (MoHAP), has revoked the licence of a psychiatrist and removed his from the medical registers of the country due to contravening the ethics and laws of the medical professions.

This came after the Sharjah Police “Department of Narcotics Control” has arrested the said person inciting young people to take controlled medicines and psychotropic drugs without having any medical conditions related to such types of medicines.

Stringent laws & legislations

MoHAP has been keen to develop the laws and legislations that regulate the practice of medical professions.

The ministry has also established specific mechanisms for control and inspection on the private health facilities to make sure that they abide by the common medical ethics and rules at the local and international levels, as well as their compliance with the state-related health laws and regulations.

The Ministry underlined that those who breach such rules and regulations will be subject to the most severe penalties to protect and the health and rights of patients, pointing that prescribing such medicines haphazardly and without medical reasons is a crime against youth as they will become addicted.

MoHAP’s assured its commitment to cooperate with its strategic partners to spot these malpractices which infringe the ethics and laws of medicine profession.

Violation of ethics

Diving into the details, the Ministry received information from the Department of Narcotics Control at Sharjah Police reporting that several young people aged 20 to 30 years are frequently visiting a psychiatric clinic in Sharjah.

A team from MoHAP and Sharjah Police was formed to investigate the incident. In the meantime, MoHAP dispatched a person to the clinic, who asked the doctor to prescribe psychotropic drugs. The doctor accepted the request and prescribed the drugs.

This was a conclusive evidence that the said doctor didn't clinically diagnose with the patient to make sure that he needs such drugs or not.

In this framework, MoHAP warns the public against circulating any false information which is not officially issued by the ministry or other health authorities and urges the individuals to report any medical malpractices or those who take psychotropic drugs by calling the toll free number 80011111, or via the email: [email protected], or contacting other government health authorities or police stations.