Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

“Cloak of secrecy” claims over probe probe into former surgeon Professor Muftah Salem Eljamel

Mr Eljamel during his time in Dundee.
Mr Eljamel during his time in Dundee.

The Information Commissioner (ICO) has been urged to lift a “cloak of secrecy” over a probe into a former Tayside surgeon.

Professor Muftah Salem Eljamel was investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) after a patient underwent surgery on the wrong spinal disc.

Mr Eljamel, from Newport in Fife, relinquished his licence to practise ahead of the hearing in August and the retrospective investigation by the GMC subsequently collapsed.

Patrick Kelly from Dundee has been fighting for a public inquiry ever since, claiming he was a victim of a botched operation by Mr Eljamel following major back surgery in 2007.

Mr Kelly asked the GMC under freedom of information to disclose the number of complaints that had led to the interim conditions on his registration and after that failed has since asked the ICO to overturn the decision.

That too has now been denied on the grounds that it would “not be fair” to Mr Eljamel who “would be distressed” if the information were released.

The decision has left Mr Kelly demanding what he describes as a “cloak of secrecy” be lifted

He said: “I am absolutely furious with the response from the ICO. Again they, with full vigour, uphold the rights of Mr Eljamel while the rest of us shuffle around in the dark trying to get answers.

“For the life of me I cannot see what harm it would do to release these answers unless they don’t want to because it is too embarrassing for them.”

Following his interim suspension, a number of people came forward to say they had been left with long-term health difficulties after surgery by Mr Eljamel.