THE HIGH Court has dismissed a doctor’s challenge against the failure of the Health Service Executive to appoint him to a GP post in the west of Ireland when he was the only applicant.
While remarks made to Dr Syed Hussain by members of the interview panel about whether he was an Irish citizen, his handwriting or if he was a failed specialist “may not have been correct”, the judge said they “did not amount to discrimination”.
Dr Hussain claimed he was discriminated against during the interview for the post and that the interviewers failed to take into account his British qualification.
However, in his judgment, Mr Justice Roderick Murphy said he was satisfied that Dr Hussain had not been discriminated against by the HSE.
In dismissing the action, the judge further held that the HSE had properly taken everything, including Dr Hussain’s qualifications, into account.
The court also found that Dr Hussain’s constitutional and statutory rights had not been breached.
Dr Hussain (48), Letteragh Road, Galway, brought a claim for damages and loss of earnings against the HSE which advertised the contract for the post of principal GP in Strokestown, Co Roscommon, in early 2006, for which he was the only applicant.
Dr Hussain had been acting as a locum GP in Strokestown when the permanent post was advertised and he applied for it.
Dr Hussain, an Irish citizen who qualified in Pakistan before coming to work here in 1995, claimed that the interview for the post was conducted in a hostile, discourteous and unprofessional manner.
He claimed the HSE breached an EU directive concerning the recognition of medical qualifications or other types of training obtained in a non-EU country, in allegedly acting outside its own rules, and was guilty of lack of administrative reasonableness and abuse of power.
The HSE denied the claims and said it applied the appropriate criteria when assessing him at interview.
In his action, Dr Hussain claimed the members of the three-person board which interviewed him purported to mask their prejudice and discrimination by awarding him marks under various headings but had failed to take account of a GP qualification obtained by him in England and which was recognised here.
He claimed that one of the interviewers asked him if he was a “hospital drop-out”, which he took as meaning he was a failed doctor who had not become a specialist.
From the moment he walked into the room for the interview, he claimed he “felt an environment”, with the chair of the panel complaining straight away about being unable to read the handwriting on his application form.
In his judgment, Mr Justice Murphy said the court was satisfied that there was no discrimination in relation to Dr Hussain and that the HSE had not failed to properly apply the EU directive.
The judge added that as there was no breach of the directive, he was satisfied that it was not necessary to refer the matter to the European Court of Justice.