THE woman who interrupted Humza Yousaf at the SNP independence convention has said she did not intend to shout at the First Minister.
Theresa Mallett suffered life-changing injuries after undergoing botched surgery for sciatica by surgeon Professor Sam Eljamel.
Mallett raised the issue during the First Minister’s maiden speech to members as party leader at the SNP’s convention on June 24.
Yousaf left the stage in Caird Hall to speak with Mallett who was initially booed for her interruption by SNP delegates.
The SNP chief then said: "Folks, let’s not boo" and exited the stage to speak directly to the woman one-on-one in the seating area, pausing proceedings for around five minutes.
In an interview with The Guardian, the SNP member revealed she went to the convention with the hope of telling a journalist or SNP employee about her experience, but was “enraged” by Yousaf's speech.
The 61-year-old is still unsure where her “voice came from”.
Mallet recalled: “I was listening to Humza and he came out with something like ‘every person in Scotland counts’.
“I felt enraged and I just started shouting at him. Eleven years of trauma and pain, getting no answers, gaslit by doctors – that all came out.
“Where my voice came from, I don’t know. I’m usually easy-going. But I was glad I got it out.
“The only thing I can remember clearly is him standing in front of me with his back to the cameras and saying, ‘a public inquiry is not off the table’.”
NEW: Humza Yousaf leaves stage mid speech to speak to a heckler one-on-one pic.twitter.com/BPB4VCK1Zt
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Mallett is one of the hundreds of patients thought to have been harmed while the doctor was working at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee.
Yousaf has since visited Mallet at her home in Glenrothes. Mallet said she did not have enough seats for the First Minister’s security and staff when they arrived so had to use some garden deckchairs.
She said the First Minister "appeared to be listening" to her concerns following the meeting. He also said he would look into her health care "urgently."
Mallett said: "I reminded him that this wasn't just about me, this is about 117 patients failed by NHS Tayside.
"I have made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that it's a public inquiry that I want, the patients need, and the public must see.
"A public inquiry would get people under oath, to give evidence and find out who did what, and when.
"And to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Minutes of an NHS Tayside meeting, released by the Scottish Government under Freedom of Information, revealed the health board had seen an “escalating number of complaints involving Professor Eljamel”.
But these added that the doctor had been “under significant pressure in recent years”, due to factors such as a “deterioration in the quantity and quality of junior staff support”, increased number of patients, and the Scottish Government’s waiting times guarantee.
Yousaf, a former health secretary, has agreed it was an “incredibly serious issue” where “individuals have been left utterly traumatised”.
He told MSPs during a previous FMQs: “We will work with those individuals, those victims, those survivors, in order to try to get them the answers they absolutely deserve.
“Of course, a public inquiry is not ruled off the table but let’s look at how we can get them the answers they deserve as quickly as we possibly can.”
