A GP is facing disciplinary action after admitting that he asked a woman to have an affair with him.

A fitness to practise tribunal heard that Dr Sunil Kumar Sahu allegedly made repeated sexual advances towards the woman, known as Ms A, between January and August 2022.

At the time - between January and June of that year - he was already subject to a separate warning from the General Medical Council (GMC) "for failing to maintain a professional boundary with a patient".

As a result of the current investigation, Dr Sahu is now banned from carrying out any intimate examinations of female patients without a chaperone "except in life-threatening emergencies".


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Dr Sahu is currently employed by NHS Lothian but he was working as a GP in Fife when he propositioned Ms A on January 6 2022.

The tribunal was told that Dr Sahu has admitted to asking Ms A "if she would enter into an affair...or words to that effect".

On another occasion, on August 11 2022, Dr Sahu admitted to telling Ms A he "really liked her", leaning towards her mouth, requesting to see her breasts, and suggesting that they could be "friends with benefits" after she responded that she liked him "as a friend/colleague".

It is also alleged that during the same episode, Dr Sahu hugged and kissed Ms A on the cheek without her consent, asked her to lift her top up, and told her she "had a nice bottom" before proceeding to touch it without her consent.

The tribunal will also investigate the allegation that the GP touched her "inappropriately, without her consent" on an earlier occasion - June 6 2022 - while performing a stomach massage by moving his hands to "just below her pants line" despite Ms A telling him 'no' when he asked if he could move his hands lower.

It is alleged that his actions were "sexually motivated".

Dr Sahu qualified in medicine in Mangalore, India in 2006 and has been registered to practise as a doctor in the UK since 2009.

The tribunal, which is being held in Manchester, will determine whether Dr Sahu's fitness to practise is impaired as a result of misconduct.

This could result in a range of penalties, ranging from warnings or suspension to being permanently struck off.

The Medical Practitioners' Tribunal Service (MPTS) considers evidence put to it by the GMC, the regulator responsible for investigating doctors' conduct.