A victim of botched brain op surgeon Emmanuel Labram has told how his plum new job is “a slap in the face”.
He has landed a top position training doctors in his home country despite being struck off in the UK.
Dr Emmanuel Labram was axed from the medical register in the UK a decade ago for “deplorable” conduct after telling a patient he had successfully removed her brain tumour when he hadn’t.
Other Scots patients then came forward claiming to have been left in misery at the hands of the medic..
Now it has emerged that Labram has been working in a top post at Ghana’s ‘first private medical university’ - where he is responsible for the training of the next generation of doctors.
Aberdeen mum Donna Porter, who was left in a wheelchair after being operated on by Labram, said the news was a “slap in the face”.
Labram was struck off in 2013 after a hearing of the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS).
The 67-year-old, then of Maryculter, had convinced a woman, known only as Patient A, that she did not need further treatment after an operation to remove a brain tumour at Aberdeen Royal Infirmary in 2008.
Despite only removing a few tiny fragments of a lesion, he told her and her husband he had removed “100 per cent” of the tumour.
She was told her tumour had “reoccurred” two years later, but by that point it was inoperable.
An investigation by NHS Grampian found that Labram had attempted to cover up his mistake, forging documents to send to her GPs and lying to colleagues.
An inquiry was launched into Labram’s actions at the time of the complaint but he was allowed to continue practising until 2012, when he took early retirement.
The MPTS said he had put the patient at “serious risk of harm” and “violated Patient A’s rights”.
The panel said his dishonest behaviour was “persistent and covered up” and said his conduct would be deemed “deplorable”.
The case prompted others to come forward with claims of poor treatment at the hands of the medic, including a spinal tumour patient who said he had been left unable to walk after treatment.
Now Labram is in a senior role at the Family Health University College in Ghana, where he has been employed as Director of Academics and Students’ Affairs.
The centre, in Teshie, comprises of a hospital, a nursing and midwifery school and Ghana’s “first Private Medical School” - training doctors and surgeons.
Labram appeared on national TV in October promoting the facility, saying: “Our students, when they qualify and when they are given medical certification, are able to practise anywhere in the world”.
Donna Porter, 55, was operated on by Labram in Aberdeen in 2008 for an issue that was causing fluid to gather on her spine.
She walked into the operating room and was assured she would be in hospital for a few days but she has been confined to a wheelchair ever since.
The mum also accused Labram of “lying”, saying she was not made aware of the risks.
She said health board investigations resulted in no action and her later attempts at claiming compensation were dismissed by insurance companies as Labram was no longer working as a medic in the UK.
When Donna spoke out about her experience in 2021, NHS Grampian said Labram had not been employed by them for some time.
She told the Record he was unfit to work in his latest role.
She said: “Things are getting worse for me every day. There’s no going back. I need hoists to get around and am lucky if I’m outside once a month now.
“It’s just been a nightmare.
“He thought he could get you on the operating table and play God.
“I’ve always said that he would be back working in medicine somewhere in the world and he’s now in a job where he’s a role model passing on his knowledge to students.
“I’m very angry to hear that, but sadly not surprised.
“I felt like there was some kind of justice with him being struck off but this feels like a slap in the face now.”
We contacted the Family Health University College in Ghana but have not yet received a response.
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