A DOCTOR who was struck off for groping a female patient has withdrawn his bid to be restored to the medical register.

Dr Nazir Dhar was found guilty of serious professional misconduct after "inappropriately massaging" the 33-year-old patient at Burnley General Hospital, where he was a locum.

But after a private meeting of the General Medical Council it was announced that Dr Dhar's application to be restored to the register had been withdrawn. No explanation was given, but it is understood the doctor has received threats since he was struck off.

In November 1994, Dr Dhar, who at the time was registered at a North London address, was found guilty of misconduct in relation to his treatment of Miss A.

The GMC's professional conduct committee heard the married doctor gave the patient a massage twice on a bed in his room at Bennett Jones House at Burnley General Hospital, and once at her own home.

She had gone for treatment for suspected diabetes and persistent pains in various parts of her body.

Dr Dhar, who was employed as a locum consultant in general medicine with an interest in diabetes, suggested massage would be therapeutic for her condition and told her to go to an address in Burnley, which turned out to be staff accommodation.

The first "therapy" took place in his bedroom.

Miss Rosalind Foster, barrister to the council, told the committee on November 1, 1994: "Miss A, who was fully undressed at the time, lay down on the bed, first on her back and then face down.

"He touched every part of her body, including her breasts and groin area and tried to brush a towel away which she was holding to try and cover herself."

After that, she vowed never to see the doctor alone again and when the next massage was fixed, took her father with her.

The doctor did not massage her on that occasion and later telephoned to say he would do the massage at her home. She agreed because her father was there.

"He again massaged her while she was naked, after rather strangely changing his clothing behind a chair," said Miss Foster.

The third massage took place at his accommodation when she only agreed to a shoulder massage. He was massaging her from behind and she could feel his bare chest on her back and the side of his face touching hers. She decided to make a hasty getaway.

Dr Dhar was not at the original hearing as he was said to have been in Kashmir. The committee found him guilty in his absence.

The committee also heard that he had been sacked from a previous job at a Maidstone Hospital following two incidents of sexual harassment of a domestic cleaner and an auxiliary nurse in late 1991.

At the conclusion of the restoration hearing, which lasted more than an hour, Committee Chairman Sir Herbert Duthie, merely announced that the application had been withdrawn.

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