Doctor charged with rape can keep treating women via telehealth at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital

A doctor at one of the state’s top metropolitan hospitals has been charged with rape but can continue treating women patients as long as he consults via telehealth, the watchdog has announced.

Sayonne Sivalingam is accused of raping a person last June.

A doctor at one of the state’s top metropolitan hospitals has been charged with rape, but can continue treating women patients as long as he consults via telehealth, the watchdog has announced.

Sayonne Sivalingam is accused of raping the person in June last year and is due back in Brisbane Magistrates Court on January 22.

The state’s health watchdog announced on Monday on its online register of action that it had given the 30-year-old the green light to see female patients at Metro North’s “virtual ward”, part of Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Herston.

He is banned from having in-person contact with women patients, the register states.

The conditions placed on his registration include that he “must keep a record” during female telehealth consults of “the consent of all participants if the consultation is digitally recorded and/or when information is uploaded to digital health infrastructure”.

He must also note the type of technology used during the consultation and any technical issues experienced.

An Instagram image of Sayonne Sivalingam

Sayonne Sivalingam

Dr Sivalingam graduated with his degree in medicine from James Cook University in 2018, and his principal place of practice is Herston, according to the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency.

The conditions, which are effective from January 3, include that he must take all reasonable steps to ensure his reception staff tell women patients at the time of wanting to book an appointment with him that the consultation can only be booked or proceed using telehealth.

If he wants to work elsewhere while he is subject to conditions on his registration Dr Sivalingam must give his employer “details of the specific alleged conduct that gave rise to these conditions” or a full redacted copy of the most recent document by the state’s health ombudsman for restricting his practice.

The rape charge is in its early stages before the courts, and Dr Sivalingam is not yet required to enter a plea.

The health ombudsman’s decision will continue to have effect until the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal sets the decision aside or the ombudsman removes the conditions.