A disgraced senior doctor who was convicted of fraud and forgery offences totalling more than £17,000 has been struck off.

Mohammed Sait worked as an orthopaedic surgeon at private and NHS hospitals in Kent when he purposely falsely billed insurance companies for work he hadn't carried out.

The 62-year-old was convicted of two counts of fraud against Axa and Aviva and two more of forgery at Maidstone Crown Court in March.

It related to his time at the private BMI Fawkham Manor Hospital in Longfield and Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford between 2011 and 2016.

Six months later, in September, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) held a hearing into his conduct. In a report made public this week, it revealed it had suspended his licence for his dishonest behaviour and convictions.

During Sait’s Crown Court sentencing, the judge, Recorder Sarah Counsell, said she would reduce the sentence because of the seven-and-a-half-year delay in bringing the case to court.

She gave him a 12-month jail sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered him to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work for the community.

He was also ordered to attend 25 days with probation to address his rehabilitation.

Defence barrister David Whittaker KC told the court the delay was "inexcusable" and the retired surgeon now was someone who suffered from "anxiety and is deeply depressed”.

Sait, from Chislehurst, wasn’t present for the MPTS hearing and wasn’t represented.

Making a case for the General Medical Council (GMC), Georgina Goring said: “Although it may not result in direct harm to patients, dishonesty related to matters outside the doctor’s clinical responsibility - eg providing false statements or fraudulent claims for monies - is particularly serious.

“This is because it can undermine the trust the public place in the medical profession. Health authorities should be able to trust the integrity of doctors, and where a doctor undermines that trust there is a risk to public confidence in the profession. Evidence of clinical competence cannot mitigate serious and/or persistent dishonesty.”

In concluding their decision, the tribunal said: “The tribunal may impose an immediate order if it determines that it is necessary to protect members of the public, or is otherwise in the public interest, or is in the best interests of the doctor.

“The Tribunal determined that an immediate order of suspension was necessary to protect the public and was otherwise in the public interest.”

A trial last year into Sait’s conduct heard how colleagues at the clinic became concerned about his behaviour before reporting it.

He was initially cleared by hospital bosses before fellow orthopaedic surgeon Michael Thilagarajah “doggedly” pursued the matter with his bosses and asked for a robust investigation into the authenticity of alleged insurance letters Sait had presented.

Sait, who also worked as a consultant at Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford, had denied all the offences but was found guilty by a jury last December.

Reacting to the sentencing, his former patient Elaine Gurnham, who was awarded damages against the doctor said she was “disgusted.”

Speaking to KentOnline, the 62-year-old said: “I have been waiting for this and following the case but I cannot believe it.

“I am disgusted. There was no mention of the patients he affected. I feel the sentencing is a joke.

“He walked out of court and is now at home. They spent all these years and money for £17,000.”