Trainee psychiatrist was ‘out of his depth’, hears Medical Council

A trainee psychiatrist who was unable to carry out simple medical tests has been found guilty of poor professional performance by a fitness to practise committee of the Medical Council.

Dr Muthulingam Kasiraj, also known as Dr Sripathy, was found not guilty of the more serious charge of professional misconduct after a two-day hearing.

The inquiry heard evidence Dr Sripathy has been diagnosed with an obsessive compulsive personality but the committee found this did not contribute to events. In total, he faced more than 20 allegations of poor professional performance or professional misconduct. The Medical Council will decide at a later date on what sanctions, if any, to impose.

The committee heard expert evidence that Dr Sripathy displayed a “worrying” pattern of mistakes and appeared “out of his depth”. Dr Paul Scully, consultant psychiatrist at St James’s Hospital, said many of the allegations involved serious failings in performance and carelessness or lack of attention.

Dr Sripathy, a 36-year-old Indian national who received his medical qualification in Bulgaria in 2005, was granted the right to practise in Ireland by the Medical Council in 2012. Dr Sripathy, who represented himself, rejected some of the allegations and said others related to his first days working on call. He said he may have made some errors but this did not equate to a lack of knowledge.