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A Melbourne doctor who asked a vulnerable patient for sex while promising to help her get a disability pension has been allowed to keep practising despite a long history of serious complaints to regulators. The general practitioner is still treating patients without conditions on his registration, three and a half years after the latest allegations – and a damning string of text messages – were first brought to the attention of the Medical Board of Australia. A Victorian Civil and Administrative Appeals Tribunal panel recently found the female patient's complaints against Glenroy-based Dr Hassan Alkazali were proven and constituted four counts of professional misconduct, with a determination on penalty due late next month. The panel accepted evidence that Dr Alkazali had asked the patient for sex over the phone and in dozens of text messages, and had tried to coach her on how to get a disability pension for schizophrenia, despite lacking evidence to reasonably believe she was schizophrenic. The text messages, reproduced in VCAT's findings, show the doctor had responded to questions about the status of the patient's pension application with: "But good dr needs good girl to play with." In other messages he writes: "Do you want to be mine," "U will get u form done perfectly good regardless u answer," "U will get pension for sure," "...I am asking if u want nice guy for casual sex very secretly," "Doesn't matter my dear...I will use everything to get u pension." When first questioned about the messages, Dr Alkazali also tried to mislead investigators by claiming the text conversation had been edited and the woman must be having "another psychotic episode," the panel found. A relative of the patient in November told VCAT Dr Alkazali had suggested she go on the disability support pension after she attended his office for a medical certificate requesting a couple of weeks off work to deal with a personal issue. "Dr Alkazali said that he would have to send the complainant to a psychologist and that she should tell the psychologist that she had schizophrenia, 'just make up anything' as you have to have a disability or you cannot get the pension," the relative said in evidence. The Board's Immediate Action Committee decided no immediate action was required to protect the public from Dr Alkazali when the complaint was received in mid-2013 and the allegations were not formally referred to VCAT until January 2016, the findings state. "AHPRA and the Medical Board of Australia (the Board) are confident that they are appropriately exercising their functions under the National Law to keep the public and patients safe," a spokeswoman for AHPRA and the Board said in response to questions from Fairfax Media. "As regulators, we must make sure our processes are fair and lawful. The National Law imposes limits on the information we can release. "AHPRA and the Board will now prepare submissions to the tribunal so it can make its final determinations about appropriate protective orders." In 2008 when Dr Alkazali was being investigated by the now defunct Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria over a different set of allegations, including a patient's death, it was his freedom to continue practising during the process that sparked a cry for action from a federal MP on the floor of parliament. While working as a GP in Kinglake, staff and patients of Dr Alkazali made more than 60 allegations of medical neglect and fraud – including a teenager who was allegedly diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a 10-minute consult and a man sent home with chest pain who later had a heart attack. Staff had signed declarations alleging Dr Alkazali regularly overbilled Medicare for appointments, overserviced patients, and used their healthcare cards to buy prescription drugs, then member for McEwen, Fran Bailey, told Parliament. "The medical board has a duty to protect the public, the residents of Kinglake, and it must fulfil its duty now," she said. The Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria was folded into the national Board of Australia when it was created in 2010. AHPRA and the Medical Board of Australia would not comment on the outcome of the Kinglake investigation. But in June 2008, News Limited reported the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria had found Dr Alkazali would benefit from mentoring. Dr Alkazali declined to comment. His case returns to VCAT for a hearing on final determination on February 22. Got a tip? Contact us securely on JournoTips

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