Victims of disgraced Sam Eljamel piled further pressure on the SNP to launch a public inquiry into the scandal surrounding the surgeon with a gory protest outside Holyrood.
Campaigners who were harmed by the rogue doctor wore hospital gowns splattered with fake blood, with one even posing as a patient on an operating table.
Dozens of Eljamel victims left with life-changing injuries at his hands gathered outside Holyrood on the second day after the summer break.
One campaigner could be seen holding up a sign accusing First Minister Humza Yousaf and SNP health chief Michael Matheson of hiding away from the fiasco.
Statement expected
Eljamel repeatedly botched operations on patients while he was employed by NHS Tayside between 1995 and 2013.
Last week The Courier told how a bombshell report into the health board’s handling of the scandal found he should have been suspended long before he was struck off.
Mr Matheson is set to make a statement on the crisis in parliament on Thursday.
Until now the Scottish Government has repeatedly brushed off demands for a public inquiry, instead favouring a separate independent review.
Earlier this week Perthshire MSP Jim Fairlie became the first SNP politician to formally agree with the demands of patients, piling on further pressure.
Lead campaigner Jules Rose, harmed by Eljamel when he was under light-touch supervision, shared an emotional moment with Mr Fairlie at the protest as she thanked him for his support.
She later told us: “I shed a quiet tear when I received the email from Jim to say that he was going to back a public inquiry.
“I am extremely confident we will get this. We will not stop until Humza Yousaf does the right thing.”
After talking to patients about their harrowing experiences, Mr Fairlie said: “Listening to these people, hearing what’s happened to them, it’s absolutely horrendous.
“It’s just beyond belief. I’m shocked at the fact it was allowed to continue.”
Local MSPs from Holyrood’s three main opposition parties have all been vocally in favour of a public inquiry and were in attendance at Wednesday’s demonstration.
‘Questions should have been answered’
Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross warned Mr Matheson must announce “nothing less” than a full public probe when he speaks in the chamber on Thursday.
He said the move should have been taken years ago, when patients first demanded answers about their botched treatment.
Mr Ross told us: “Humza Yousaf’s response to me was that a full public inquiry would take too long to get answers.
“But it’s always going to take longer if you delay setting up the public inquiry in the first place.
“The questions that continue to be asked by campaigners should have been answered a lot earlier.”
Speaking hours earlier, Mr Matheson insisted he recognised the anger of patients and admitted last week’s shock report raised “serious issues of concern”.
He added Eljamel could potentially be extradited from Libya and forced to return to Scotland depending on the results of an ongoing police investigation.
Conversation