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SCMP Reporter

A doctor was last night banned from practising for a year after being found guilty of misconduct for giving a female patient drugs which caused her face to swell up and made her sprout unsightly facial hair.

Dr Hui Yat-ming, whose clinic is in Tin Shui Wai, left the hearing late last night without comment.

He was accused of prescribing the steroid dexamethasone to a woman, named only as Ms Hung, 25. She had gone to him complaining of a nasal allergy in June 1999.

Dr Hui was also accused of improper labelling of the drugs, failing to tell the patient about possible side-effects and keeping improper medical notes.

Ms Hung's case came to light last year when she approached the Sunday Morning Post  who commissioned independent tests on the pills and found them to be the steroid dexamethasone.

Delivering the verdict, Medical Council chairman Dr Lee Kin-hung said: 'The council concluded that Dr Hui did prescribe dexamethasone - four milligrammes a day to the patient. This was a serious case of misconduct, the doctor was wrong to prescribe the steroids without telling her the side effects.' The council also concluded that Dr Hui's medical notes relating to the case were 'not true'.

Dr Lee said the council found Ms Hung credible but did not have the same opinion of Dr Hui. The council also believed the pills had been sent for testing by the Post  in a proper manner.

Finding Dr Hui guilty, the council said it believed the opinion of the three other doctors Ms Hung had approached.

Ms Hung sought Dr Hui's help on three occasions between June and September 1999, the hearing was told.

She complained that after taking the pills she developed a 'swollen and hairy face'.

She told the hearing that it was only when she stopped taking the pills that her appearance started to return to normal.

She sought opinions from three other doctors all of whom said steroids could have caused her condition.

The council heard that three blood tests carried out after she stopped taking the pills failed to conclude whether the syndrome was linked to steroids in general.

In the medical notes presented to the council by Dr Hui there was no record of any steroid prescription. Dr Hui insisted in the hearing that he had never prescribed steroids. He said he only prescribed eurodane - a drug for treating nasal allergies.

During yesterday's hearing the Medical Council also took the unprecedented step of considering an order banning the naming of the defendant in the event of him being cleared.

The request came from Dr Hui's lawyer, Chris Howse, who argued that his client should enjoy the same rights as the complainant who only wanted her surname disclosed.

Dr Lee explained that revealing Dr Hui's identity before the verdict would not be in the public interest in the event of him being cleared. He added that the council had the power to order such a ban under the Medical Registration Ordinance.



Doctor banned after drugs gave woman facial hair