The chief executive of the organisation, the name of which is suppressed, told the Otago Daily Times there were "strict conditions" to ensure the safety of patients treated by Dr Salil Christy Elias.
"[We] would simply not sacrifice patient safety if there was any possibility of our community’s health and safety being at risk," he said.
After knowing the doctor and his family for over 20 years, the executive said he chose "forgiveness" in hiring the disgraced GP.
"At what point do we say ‘time served’ and allow a person to return to a career and give back and repay their debt to society?"
Dr Elias was deregistered by the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal following a judgement in 2023, which identified episodes of misconduct between April 2015 and June 2017.
The doctor admitted to twice having sex with the woman in his consultation room, sending her money and inappropriately prescribing her opioids and other pharmaceuticals, knowing that she was drug-dependent.
The judgement said the patient had an "extensive" history of victimisation and mental illness and was often seen at the health centre inebriated and with injuries compatible with drug abuse.
As a result, the tribunal ordered the cancellation of the doctor’s registration with the condition that he was allowed to re-register only after taking a sexual misconduct test, as approved by the Medical Council of New Zealand.
Just two years later, Dr Elias is back at work.
The chief executive stressed the council had renewed Dr Elias’ practicing certificate "after years of deliberation and sanction" with special conditions in place.
Those conditions included that the doctor must have a female nurse present whenever he was treating a female patient. a
The executive acknowledged Dr Elias’ misconduct was "one of the most severe professional boundary transgressions" any doctor could commit but said the physician was fully aware of his "awful" failings and had rightly faced professional and financial hardship as a result.
The doctor continued to add "skilful, safe and valuable service" to the practice.
— APL
