A senior Garda has described the “significant concerns” he had held regarding the behaviour of a surgeon who was arrested for driving both while drunk and under the influence of drugs on at least six occasions.
Chief Superintendent Padraic Jones told a Medical Council fitness-to-practise inquiry concerning Syed Bukhari that gardaí in the Cavan region had held “concerns” regarding the surgeon in the late 2010s “particularly in regard to his behaviour driving vehicles”.
“We knew of his employment, and that he had been stopped while wearing surgical scrubs coming to and from the hospital,” Chief Supt Jones told the inquiry.
“That generated significant concerns for me.”
The onus on local gardaí at the time had been “to protect life”, he added.
“That was the level of concern I had with regard to the acts and alleged acts of this individual,” he said.
The inquiry, which was instigated by the council and is expected to last three days, centres on allegations that 36-year-old Dr Bukhari, in repeatedly being arrested in the Cavan area while driving without insurance and either intoxicated or under the influence of drugs, had engaged in behaviour “disgraceful or dishonourable” to the profession, amounting to professional misconduct.
A separate allegation asserts Dr Bukhari breached an undertaking to the High Court to uphold the law in terms of driving licences and insurance legislation after being convicted of driving while disqualified and without insurance in May 2022.
A further allegation is set to be heard in private.
Dr Bukhari, who is representing himself, was not present at the hearing.
It is understood the surgeon, who comes from a family of physicians and had been based at Cavan General Hospital, had absconded to Pakistan in 2023 after his appeals of two separate five-month prison sentences he had received on the back of his driving convictions had been struck out by the courts.
It is unclear if he has since returned to Ireland, while the details of the inquiry were served to Dr Bukhari at an address in Pakistan.
Those convictions had stemmed from offences including driving while under the influence of cannabis, driving while intoxicated, driving without insurance, possessing multiple fake driving licences, and speeding at over 200km/hour.
The inquiry heard details of an affidavit sworn by Dr Bukhari in December 2021 in which he acknowledged his history of alcohol and substance abuse issues, but denied those issues had ever impacted upon his patients.
The doctor said he had never attended work while under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and that Chief Supt Jones had been “prejudiced” by the gardaí having observed Dr Bukhari wearing scrubs while driving.
He said on that occasion, while he had consumed cannabis, he had been returning home from a friend’s house and not from work at the time he was stopped.
The doctor said his poor behaviour had been heavily influenced by the breakdown of his marriage.
The inquiry continues.