The Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal ("VCAT") determined Dr Pralay Mazumdar, a specialist psychiatrist, engaged in professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct in November 2017.
Dr Mazumdar pleaded guilty and was convicted in December 2014 for fraudulently obtaining payments and knowingly providing false and misleading information following an investigation by the Victorian WorkCover Authority ("VWA").
Dr Mazumdar's conduct involved systematic overcharging of the VWA by fraudulently obtaining payments on 114 occasions over an 18-month period, the total amount involved was $44,539.
On 11 December 2014, Dr Mazumdar was sentenced to a suspended six-month jail term and fined $5000. On appeal, the suspended sentence was set aside and a two-year Community Corrections Order for two years, including 350 hours of community service, was imposed instead.
VCAT has approved the Medical Board of Australia’s ("Board") recommendation to reprimand and suspend Dr Mazumdar for six months from 1 January 2018. Conditions were also imposed on his registration, including to:
- undertake education about billing practices and professional behaviour, during the suspension period,
- attend mentoring, following his return to practice, and
- submit to audits of his practice, to focus on billing practices, following his return to practice.
VCAT's finding of professional misconduct related to Dr Mazumdar’s criminal convictions, and its finding of unprofessional conduct related to his failure to advise the Board that his clinical privileges at the clinic where he worked had been suspended, as is required under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law.
Read the Medical Board’s media release here.