A doctor who fraudulently prescribed sex drugs to poor patients has had a hearing with the General Medical Council (GMC) postponed.

Dr Valiyakalayil Ramu, who practised at the surgery in The Crescent, Halfway, was suspended for a year, before returning to work as a GP in 2009, with conditions.

He was due to attend a hearing on December 1, where GMC chiefs were to consider an extension of his conditional registration, which expires on December 25.

However, the case was adjourned and Dr Ramu’s conditional registration extended for four months.

Dr Ramu was convicted in October 2007 of two offences of obtaining anti-impotence pills from the NHS by deception, and one offence of fraud by false representation.

Two further offences of fraud by false representation were taken into consideration.

He was sentenced to a 12-month community order, 200 hours of unpaid work, and £600 costs.

Sittingbourne Magistrates’ Court heard that on five separate occasions, Dr Ramu, of Borden, wrote prescriptions for Cialis, a drug used to treat erectile dysfunction, using the name of a patient.

He gave them to other patients who could not afford the drug, making no record in their medical notes.

The GMC suspended him for a year in August 2008.

A fitness to practice panel in 2009 imposed 13 conditions on Dr Ramu’s registration, including the need to confine his medical practice to NHS posts, not to carry out any private practice.

He could not work as a locum or undertake any out-of-hours work, and must work under supervision to train in medical ethics and issues of risk and patient safety.