A GP with responsibility for 2,500 patients at surgeries in Whitton, Twickenham and Strawberry Hill has appealed against the decision to strike him off the medical register.

Dr Bodh Sagar Kanchan, 63, was found guilty of misconduct by the General Medical Council's professional conduct committee on Friday July 10.

He was suspended with immediate effect to protect the public but given 28 days to appeal.

Despite his appeal, he remains suspended from general practice and his patients' medical care is currently being covered by other GPs in the area.

A spokeswoman for the General Medical Council said it could take anywhere from two to five months for Dr Kanchan's appeal to be either dismissed or upheld.

At the initial hearing in July, professional conduct committee chairman Professor John Ward told Dr Kanchan that failure to meet basic standards undermined the trust placed in the medical profession.

He said: "The facts found proved against you demonstrate that you have fallen well below those professional standards, particularly in your disregard for vulnerable patients both young and old."

The GMC committee heard that Dr Kanchan correctly diagnosed a 14-year-old boy was suffering from viral hepatitis when his mother brought him to the GP's surgery in Warren Road, Whitton, on June 3 1995.

But he then ignored requests from the boy's mother for home visits and failed to ensure the boy received the right treatment - facts which Dr Kanchan denies.

However the committee judged Dr Kanchan "guilty of serious professional misconduct".

The teenager died on July 5 1996 after undergoing two liver transplants and later a further liver and kidney transplant.

Dr Kanchan was also found guilty of similar lack of care in the case of an 85-year-old cancer victim in 1995.

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