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Dr. Harry Dang, Newfoundland and Labrador’s highest billing physician in the last fiscal year, has been suspended from practising medicine.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Newfoundland and Labrador (CPSNL) handed down the suspension on Dec. 5, according to Dang’s profile on the regulatory body’s website. The story was first reported by the online news publication allNewfoundlandLabrador.

A spokesperson for CPSNL declined comment on Tuesday. It’s unclear why Dang’s licence was suspended.

Dang, an ophthalmologist, was licensed to practice in the province in December 2023.

He went to work for the Jackman Eye Institute in St. John’s the following month, according to a memo from the company posted on its website.

Public records show he billed the province $720,000 up to the end of the 2023-24 fiscal year.

In his second year, Dang became the highest billing fee-for-service doctor in the province with $4.9 million in services billed to the medical care plan.

The next closest doctor came in at just under $2.5 million, while Dang’s boss — Dr. Christopher Jackman — was third at just over $2.4 million.

Dang graduated at the top of his class at the University of Toronto with a bachelor of science degree, according to the memo published after his hiring. He then placed in the 99th percentile on his medical college admission test (MCAT), and entered med school a year early.

He graduated with a medical degree from the University of Ottawa in 2018, where he ranked first in his class in ophthalmology, and earned several awards and scholarships.

Dang did his residency training at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

CBC News has attempted to contact Dang for comment but has not heard back.

In a statement to CBC News, Jackman Eye Institute CEO Matthew Head confirmed that Dang has not been practicing with the company since Thursday. 

“We will await the outcome of the review that the College of Physicians and Surgeons is undertaking,” Head wrote. “We respect the process of this review and the decisions that may follow. We remain focused on the patients of the clinic, ensuring we continue delivering safe, high-quality, patient centered care.”

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