The Scottish Government has identified possible candidates to chair up the inquiry into disgraced ex-NHS Tayside surgeon Sam Eljamel.
SNP health chief Michael Matheson says discussions are currently taking place with individuals who could be well-placed to oversee the public probe.
In a letter to Tory MSP Liz Smith, he told how the government’s solicitor general, Ruth Charteris, and the lord president, Colin Sutherland, had been spearheading efforts to find the right person.
Public inquiry next steps
Mr Matheson wrote: “Following the decision to establish a public inquiry, I wrote to the solicitor general asking her to pursue matters with the lord president in relation to identifying a chair.
“We are now at the stage where discussions have taken place and are underway with candidates identified by the lord president.
“I will provide a further update to Parliament once the chair is appointed and terms of reference developed.”
In Holyrood on Thursday, Ms Smith quizzed First Minister Mr Yousaf on what progress had been made ahead of the inquiry starting.
The SNP leader finally relented to the demands of Eljamel’s victims in September after we exclusively revealed he was going to call a public inquiry.
Victims of the rogue medic want to know why NHS Tayside allowed him to harm patients for so long before he was finally suspended.
Police probe latest
In August, it emerged in a bombshell report that the health board had received complaints about his behaviour years before action was taken.
Last month, we revealed the police probe into the bungling neurosurgeon had been escalated into a major investigation.
A month earlier, we told how officers who have been probing the doctor’s butchery fear he will never be extradited back to Scotland.
Eljamel fled to Libya years after his malpractice was exposed, and he is still believed to be residing there now.
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