The Health Professions Council of SA has withdrawn from an international medical conference in protest against the continued detention in the UAE of Prof Cyril Karabus.
|||Johannesburg - The Health Professions Council of SA has withdrawn from an international medical conference in protest against the continued detention in the UAE of local doctor Prof Cyril Karabus, it said on Tuesday.
“As the custodian of healthcare ethics and standards of professional conduct of registered healthcare practitioners in the country, the HPCSA is appalled at the manner in which the UAE (United Arab Emirates) has handled the Karabus case,” acting registrar advocate Tshepo Boikanyo said in a statement.
“As such, we have decided to boycott the conference and exhibition as we will not be associated with the travesty of justice as in this case.”
The Africa Health Exhibition, which is run by the Dubai-based company, Informa Life Exhibitions, is scheduled to be held next month in Johannesburg.
Karabus, 78, has been held in the UAE since August on charges of manslaughter and falsifying documents after the death of a three-year-old Yemeni girl he treated for leukaemia in 2002.
He was to have been released after the case against him was dropped last month, but was told the decision would be taken on appeal.
He is expected back in an Abu Dhabi court on April 23. - Sapa