Dr Medhat Sedky Fouad Dous, 67, had applied to the Medical Board of Australia on December 23 in 2020 for "limited registration for post-graduate training or supervised practice".

According to a NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) decision on June 24, the board "gave lengthy reasons for its refusal in its letter to Dr Dous dated June 17, 2021".

The board found Dr Dous was unsuitable for registration due to "his failure to progress to general or specialist registration, his consistent and repeated examination failures, and performance assessments establishing limitations on his ability to practise safely as a GP".

The board also considered that Dr Dous' failure to obtain the Australian Medical Council Certificate after 18 attempts showed "a persistent failure to meet a requirement of an approved registration standard particularly in circumstances where [he] previously held limited registration for 15 years".

Dr Dous had been unregistered as a health practitioner since 2018 but applied for limited registration in 2020 as part of an attempt to take up work at a family practice in Sydney.

Dr Dous appealed the registration refusal at NCAT, claiming the board "erred as a matter of law" and did not accord him "procedural fairness".

The appeal accused the authority of being "infected" by bias and having "acted in bad faith in making their decision" that was "unreasonable and contrary to the weight of the evidence" in Dr Dous' favour.

Dr Dous has been an Australian citizen since 1991 having been born in Egypt and graduating with a medical degree from Cairo University.

He gained registration as a medical practitioner in Australia in 2002, and worked as a GP in multiple locations, mostly rural "areas of need", such as Port Macquarie and Wagga.

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Dr Dous provided NCAT with an affidavit that he had "never been the subject of a formal complaint or disciplinary action in over 16 years as a rural GP".

His solicitor argued that "since 2002 "he has practiced (sic) in various capacities without complaint, disciplinary action, or professional blemish".

Dr Dous also submitted that he "loses confidence, and performs badly, in interviews and in any examination situation, and he says that he has often had insufficient time to prepare for the relevant examinations".

In response to the appeal, the Medical Board of Australia submitted that Dr Dous was "potentially dangerous" and not safe and competent.

"Despite the apparent absence of complaints, the various Pre-Employment Structured Clinical Interviews in the material before us show his professional deficiencies," the board stated.

"Even with the benefits of competent supervision, he has failed to pass the required examinations".

NCAT dismissed the appeal after siding with the medical board's submissions.

"We do not consider that Dr Dous's appeal should succeed. Despite the deficiencies experts have identified in Dr Dous, and his failure in this appeal, he still has available to him, under the current regulatory regime, a clear pathway to registration," NCAT stated.

Dr Dous was ordered to pay the Medical Board of Australia's costs.

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