Doctor passed background checks

ROUTINE background checks failed to detect alleged links between criminal organisations and Mohamed Haneef, the Indian-trained doctor arrested in Queensland in connection with the Britain terror plot.

ROUTINE background checks failed to detect alleged links between criminal organisations and Mohamed Haneef, the Indian-trained doctor arrested in Queensland in connection with the Britain terror plot.

The Medical Board of Queensland, which two years ago failed to identify the US disciplinary history of Indian rogue surgeon Jayant Patel, was at pains to stress yesterday that nothing in the registration file of Dr Haneef would have rung alarm bells.

The Indian national, who was arrested at Brisbane airport with a one-way ticket to India, was employed at the Gold Coast Hospital in September last year as a Queensland government-sponsored, temporary skilled migrant.

Dr Haneef, who last night was still in Australian Federal Police custody, applied for the job in March 2006 from Liverpool in northwestern England, after the vacancy appeared in the British Medical Journal, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie said yesterday. "Reference checks and a check of English competency were completed and a position was offered on June 20, 2006.

"The doctor answered an ad through the British Medical Journal ... he was not recruited through the UK recruitment functions that we've been running," the Premier said.

Temporary workers coming to Australia must meet the federal Government's character test, while overseas-trained doctors in Queensland must undergo background checks.

Mr Beattie said Dr Haneef, who completed his internship in 2002 at the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Science in India, had passed all the checks and was regarded by his employers at the Gold Coast Hospital as a "model citizen".

He said the 27-year-old, who was employed as a junior doctor on a 457 visa, had started work at the Gold Coast Hospital in September last year, after his references and English language skills were checked.

"All the appropriate checks were made," Mr Beattie said.

"The doctor was regarded by the hospital in many senses as a model citizen with excellent references and so on."

The Premier said Dr Haneef had been rostered on relieving duties in the emergency department.

"He was employed as a senior house officer and a member of the junior medical staff supervised by consultant staff - in other words he was a junior doctor who was supervised by more senior staff."

The Medical Board of Queensland's slim file on Dr Haneef is being handed over to Australian Federal Police as part of a widening anti-terrorism investigation.

Board executive officer Jim O'Dempsey said yesterday that he had examined the files of two doctors, both of whom he refused to name, yesterday morning after receiving urgent advice following Dr Haneef's arrest on Monday night.

Mr O'Dempsey said the men were "absolutely squeaky clean" and that their documentation was in order.

They had produced certificates of good standing and full practice histories. "Their applications went through every hoop. We have the most stringent registration checks in Australia, but we do not check for terrorism," Mr O'Dempsey said.

Queensland is heavily reliant on overseas-trained doctors, with 2158 currently working in the state.

Temporary workers in Australia must pass a character test set out in the Migration Act.

However, the onus is on visa applicants to prove they are of good character.