A public doctor who sent medicine worth HK$247 to his parents in Australia and falsified the records was found guilty of misconduct in public office yesterday.
A magistrate criticised Dr Michael Ho Hung-kwan, 46, for favouring his family members - an act described as depriving the public of access to affordable medical consultation.
While records falsified by Ho showed that his family had visited the clinic, his parents were in fact in Australia and his son was at school at the time of the supposed consultations.
The court earlier heard that Ho on one occasion prescribed Vaseline and Panadol for his parents, medicine that could be bought in Australia.
However, Ho, an outpatient doctor at the Central Kowloon Health Centre, was acquitted in the Kowloon City Court of 23 other charges which accused him of booking bogus consultations and cancelling them at the last minute to reduce his workload.
The prosecution could not prove its case.
Deputy Magistrate Ho Wai-yang rejected Ho's claim that it was proper to prescribe medicine to his parents in Australia after an over-the-phone consultation.