A Tayside man has demanded a public inquiry after claiming he was the victim of a “botched operation” by a shamed surgeon.
Patrick Kelly, 55, who lives in Dundee, underwent major back surgery in 2007 by Professor Muftah Salem Eljamel, who was suspended from Ninewells Hospital last year.
Mr Kelly continues to suffer chronic back pain and believes the operation was never actually carried out despite the fact he was opened up on the operating table.
The Courier can reveal accident claims solicitors in Scotland are dealing with a number of cases relating to surgery by Professor Eljamel who no longer works for NHS Tayside in the last two or three years.
NHS Tayside said they take any concern raised seriously and will “undertake appropriate investigation or review”.
Mr Kelly said: “I tried everything within my power to resolve this. They have a duty of care to me and have failed terribly and they know it.
“Recent MRI scans from Ninewells Hospital showed that my discs are in exactly the same position as they were pre-op in 2005.
“This meant that although I underwent major surgery, nothing was done to me on the operating table.
“I almost lost my life after surgery by Professor Eljamel when my wound opened and I started to haemorrhage very badly.
“I recall a doctor telling me that I might not make it through the night.”
Professor Eljamel, who has been a consultant neurological surgeon in NHS Tayside since 1995, was initially suspended from his post after a patient underwent surgery on the wrong spinal disc.
He also had to step down from his teaching and research posts at Dundee University following the interim order by the Medical Practitioners’ Tribunal Service.
Mr Kelly, a former Radio Tay broadcaster, was admitted to Ninewells Hospital in 2007 to undergo a discectomy, which is the surgical removal of part or all of a spinal disc.
The former college lecturer continued to suffer chronic discomfort following surgery, which left him with walking difficulties and reliant on a cocktail of pain relief drugs to get through the day.
After discovering in The Courier that Professor Eljamel had been suspended last year, Mr Kelly asked Ninewells Hospital for a review of his medical case and he was given another MRI scan.
NHS Tayside consultant neurosurgeon David Mowle said the latest MR imaging of Mr Kelly’s thoracic spine demonstrated “very similar findings to the pre-operative scans from 2005 and 2006”.
In a letter, he told Mr Kelly: “It is not really possible to comment on how the operated T5/6 disc might have appeared had a scan been performed soon after your trans-thoracic surgery.
“But I do agree that this does appear largely unchanged and one would perhaps expect to see some changes had a significant disc reduction been carried out at the time of the surgery.”
Mr Kelly believes this statement proves no surgery took place on his back in 2007.
The ex-DJ said his back problems began as far back as 1988 and he can no longer work due to the pain, with knock-on problems “too numerous to mention”.
He said: “I am also financially ruined due to medical negligence and because my wife works, I don’t qualify for the ESA (Employment and Support Allowance) benefit.
“I want to know what the NHS or Scottish Government are going to do to assist people like myself who cannot work again due to this surgeon’s failings and to stop me from heading into financial ruin because I cannot claim benefits due to my wife working.
“I have worked through chronic pain for many years but it is now too much for me. It is terrible what this surgeon has done to me and my family.
“I would be happy to meet Professor Eljamel any time or place just to ask him the question ‘Why?’
“When I was in hospital there were a few patients who were awaiting surgery by Professor Eljamel for various medical conditions, including brain tumours.
“Given the fact that Professor Eljamel did not carry out the operation on me and just left me, can we be sure that he did not do the same to them?
“This is why I believe a public inquiry is the best and only way forward to answer these questions.”
An NHS Tayside spokesman said: “Professor Eljamel no longer works for NHS Tayside.
“Whilst we cannot comment on individual cases relating to patients, NHS Tayside takes any concern raised seriously and will undertake appropriate investigation or review.”