Doctor lands in prison for cellphone theft

CHENNAI: An orthopedic surgeon has been arrested and sent to Puzhal prison for stealing mobile phones from fellow doctors at a city hospital.
Dr Om Prakash, an orthopedic surgeon who joined Global Hospitals earlier this month, was assisting a team of experts who were demonstrating a neurosurgery for epilepsy for a continuing medical education programme on Sunday morning.A team of experts including Dr Richard Selway from Kings College, London, Dr Mathew Abraham, Christian Medical College, Vellore and Dr Ravi Mohan Rao from Bangalore were in the operation theatre while the surgery was telecast live to the hospital auditorium. After the surgery, Dr Selway said his cell phone was missing. Soon, Dr Abraham and Rao also joined him complaining their phones were missing. All three of them were iPhones.
After frisking the paramedical staff, hospital officials found Dr Om Prakash missing from the theatre. "It was embarrassing. We knew they left the phones in the theatre, close to the operation table. Since only Dr Prakash had left the theatre, we asked him," said a senior official at the hospital. The hospital also informed the local police.
During the police enquiry, Dr Prakash admitted that he had stolen the phones from the theatre. "He returned the phones. They were produced as evidence in court," said Pallikaranai police inspector S Sahadeven. On Monday, the police produced Dr Prakash in the Tambaram Court, where a magistrate remanded him in judicial custody.
Tamil Nadu State Medical Council president Dr M Prakasam said doctors who are remanded will be temporarily barred from practicing. "If he is convicted, he would lose his license," Dr Prakasam said.
A hospital spokesperson said Dr Prakash, who was posted to assist neurosurgeon Dr J K B C Parthiban and the foreign delegates, has been removed from the hospital rolls.