Doctor brings Dh100m case against Dohms

Dubai: A court will soon decide whether the Department of Health and Medical Services (Dohms) is liable to compensate a doctor Dh100 million after he accused it of unfairly revoking his licence to operate a lasik (laser treatment) centre.

The doctor stated in his lawsuit before the Dubai Civil Court that Dohms's decision to revoke his licence to run the clinic was based on malicious complaints brought against him by a patient and pleaded that the action be annulled, Gulf News has learnt.

The plaintiff is seeking Dh100 million in damages for the financial losses and anguish he suffered after his Dubai-based lasik centre was banned from conducting lasik surgeries.

A woman had earlier lodged a police complaint alleging that she had been subjected to a lasik procedure without her prior authorisation, the doctor stated in the lawsuit.

"The woman lodged a malicious complaint and she failed to corroborate her claims. Based on her malicious complaint and without conducting a proper investigation, Dohms decided to revoke the lasik centre's licence and ordered the removal of the lasik surgery equipment. The matter wasn't even taken to court," he stated in his lawsuit.

No reply

The doctor claimed he didn't receive any reply from Dohms when he wrote to it contesting its decision.

In his lawsuit, the plaintiff said he had invested more than Dh7 million in the lasik centre and advanced surgery equipment. He claimed Dohm's decision had tarnished his reputation as a skilled doctor and ophthalmologist and had caused him huge financial losses.

The plaintiff explained in the lawsuit that the lasik centre represented his main source of income. The Dubai Public Prosecution will give its legal response to the lawsuit later this month before the court.