A man who worked as a locum doctor for West Hertfordshire NHS Trust has been allowed to resume practising after he repaid £31,500 in overpayments for work carried out in 2016 and 2017.
Mahendra Nathadwarawala was working in a consultant role in an accident and emergency department at the time of the incident, which he did not initially declare. He was a director and shareholder of Daivum Group Ltd (DGL), which was mistakenly overpaid £31,500 for his agency locum work by DRC Locums Ltd.
In 2023, a medical tribunal found that the money had not been repaid, with no payments made between March 2018 and February 2023.
But in a new tribunal, held on July 24, evidence was provided that Mr Nathadwarala has now repaid the overpayments in full and his suspension has been revoked with immediate effect.
The 2023 tribunal had imposed a six-month suspension, but it did not come into effect until February this year after Mr Nathadwarawala submitted an appeal, which was rejected to the High Court.
Speaking to last month’s tribunal, Mr Nathadwarawala “expressed his sincere remorse” for his previous actions and said he “apologised deeply” to the General Medical Council and to the public.
“He accepted full responsibility for failing to promptly address the overpayments he had received,” the tribunal’s report said.
Mr Nathadwarawala, who qualified in 1984 at the University of Baroda in India, confirmed that he has now repaid the overpayment in full and added that he “felt sorry, ashamed and disappointed in himself” for his previous actions.
The overpayments were paid by DRC Locums Ltd to Daivum Group Ltd, a company in which Mr Nathadwarawala was a director and shareholder.
He did not initially bring the overpayments to the attention of DRC or arrange for repayments to be made, and the 2023 tribunal concluded he had acted in a “dishonest” way.
The payments “derived from NHS funds”, the 2023 tribunal’s report said.
Last month’s tribunal noted that Mr Nathadwarawala no longer works on a self-employed basis, having dissolved his company, and is now paid directly to his personal bank account.
The tribunal concluded that Mr Nathadwarawala had “complied” with the recommendations of the 2023 tribunal and “reflected on why honesty is fundamental to medical practice”.
It rejected arguments from the General Medical Council that Mr Nathadwarawala’s fitness to practise remains impaired.
They had argued that his evidence “lacked substance” with an “absence” of details as to “what concrete steps had been taken to prevent repetition” of the incident.
Mr Nathadwarawala, who was working in a consultant role in an accident and emergency department at the time of the incident in 2016 and 2017, had a “long and otherwise unblemished career”, the tribunal noted.
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