A DOCTOR is to be struck off by the General Medical Council (GMC) after they upheld charges that he ran up a £23,000 bill for private overseas calls on NHS phones and fraudulently wrote a prescription for his brother.

Dr Frederick Kakuba Kamuka made personal calls to Kenya and Uganda while working for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust between 2003 and 2009.

The Ugandian-educated pyschiatrist was also found by the GMC panel to have forged prescriptions for his illegal immigrant brother while he was working as a locum at West Park Hospital in Darlington.

He was also found to have misled health officials about his qualifications and experience when applying for education placements at Northamptonshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust in 2003.

An interim order suspending the 61-year-old, who did not attend the hearing in Manchester, was also suspended immediately for 28 days, when he is due to be struck off.

The panel’s finding said: “His misconduct involved persistent instances of dishonesty which were covered up and the evidence is that he still lacks adequate insight into the seriousness of his actions.

“Therefore the panel is in no doubt that erasure (from the register) is the only appropriate and proportionate sanction in the case of Dr Kamyuka. “This is necessary to protect patients, maintain public confidence in the profession and to declare and uphold proper standards of conduct and behaviour.”

Dr Kamuka, who was sentenced to 100 hours’ community service at Teesside Crown Court last year for the prescription forgery, has 28 days to appeal the removal of his right to practise as a medical doctor.