A DOCTOR who did not return to work in her home country of Kenya after being funded to study radiology in Ireland for four years treated the intention of the scholarship with contempt, a Medical Council fitness-to-practise inquiry was told yesterday.
Dr Irene Mwangi, who faces charges of professional misconduct, has said the allegations against her are baseless.
Dr Mwangi, the inquiry heard, was funded to study for a radiology fellowship at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland through a trust set up by Joseph Linders in memory of his late wife.
Participants in the scholarship scheme were given to understand they would have to work for five years at a Nairobi hospital after finishing the course.
Giving evidence yesterday, Mr Linders alleged Dr Mwangi had been dishonest and claimed someone who would seek a post in Boston despite the terms of the scholarship bond was “not an appropriate person to be in Irish medicine”.
Dr Mwangi completed the course and was expected to begin work at the Mater hospital in Nairobi, on August 1st, 2008, but did not do so, the inquiry heard. She later e-mailed the hospital to say she was not planning to work there. The Nairobi hospital, the College of Surgeons and solicitors for Mr Linders informed the Medical Council, alleging she had breached a memorandum of understanding entered into when she was awarded the scholarship worth some €245,000.
In written evidence read out to the hearing yesterday, Dr Mwangi said no job offer had been made with the Mater hospital in Nairobi, and so there was neither breach of trust nor contract.
Mr Linders told the inquiry this was a technical and legal approach to “weasel out” of an arrangement. “This was a desire to do some good. Dr Mwangi treated it with utter contempt.”
However, Oisín Quinn SC, for Dr Mwangi, said there was no firm contract of employment supplied to the hearing his client could be in breach of, adding she had expressed reservations about the potential Nairobi job terms.
Mr Quinn also suggested Mr Linders had met the Kenyan ambassador so he could find Dr Mwangi and “extract retribution”.
Mr Linders said this was wrong and told the hearing he had been seriously concerned about Dr Mwangi’s welfare after she apparently vanished in early August 2008. He denied seeking to have the doctor’s passport withdrawn.
Mr Linders said the scholarship bond was a “matter of moral agreement, contract or no contract”. The doctor is to provide evidence by video link from San Diego.
The inquiry continues.
