Dr. Shafiq Khan closed his Medicine Hat private practice in April, following what he alleges was years of unacceptable behaviour by AHS and CPSA staff and management.--PHOTO CREDIT TO ALBERTA HEALTH SERVICES
kking@medicinehatnews.com
A former Medicine Hat psychiatrist who closed his practice abruptly earlier this year is taking legal action against AHS and CPSA for alleged discrimination and racism he says forced his exit from the field of medicine.
Dr. Shafiq Khan, former owner of 7th Avenue Clinic, has filed an application to the provincial Human Rights Commission over discrimination and racism he claims several high-ranking AHS officials committed during his nine years of practice in Alberta.
As well, Khan has requested a CPSA judicial review regarding similar instances within the college.
“I have been the target of racism, discrimination, bullying and harassment for the last four years of my practice at the Medicine Hat hospital and (in) the community,” Khan said in a statement to the News. “I can confirm that the closure of my clinic is the direct result of (this) discrimination, racism, bullying and harassment.”
Licensed to practise psychiatry in Alberta in 2014, Khan has held several notable positions within the department of Addiction and Mental Health – including former South zone clinical department head, former North zone medical director, former MHRH chief psychiatrist and former MHRH consultant psychiatrist – until 2021, when he opened his private clinic.
While Khan acknowledges the positions he occupied are well-respected, he alleges he was treated in a manner that was anything but, with colleagues often calling into question his ability and overriding his decisions, while lodging ‘many false and fabricated complaints’ against him.
Khan says the most egregious incident occurred in August of 2021, when two Caucasian psychiatrists working at MHRH bypassed Khan’s instructions to not discharge one of his psychiatric inpatients who he felt was dangerous, with backing from Caucasian AHS management.
“Such a patient was discharged against my clinical orders, not once, but twice by the management,” said Khan. “This (psychotic person) had made threats of harm to me and my family, and although it’s recorded in the patient case notes, all that was ignored … I had to stop working for my and my family’s safety.”
Khan says he filed several complaints about this and other incidents to AHS during his employment, however no action was ever taken.
He says he also requested AHS launch an investigation into the deaths of three of his patients who committed suicide between 2020-2021, but says, again, no action was taken by AHS – something he finds very concerning.
Khan alleges AHS did not take his complaints or concerns seriously compared to those of his Caucasian colleagues and managers with AHS and CPSA, who, he says, filed complaints against him in what he believes was an attempt to intimidate and silence him. Khan says their complaints were acted upon and he eventually lost his hospital privileges and now must undergo additional assessments to determine his fitness to practise psychiatry.
“According to (CPSA management), I might be putting the patients at risk, although there has been not a single incident, a concern or a complaint against me by anyone in the province of Alberta,” said Khan.
Khan says he now wishes to share his experience publicly with the hopes it may lead to accountability on behalf of AHS and CPSA, as well offer his patients a more detailed explanation for the closure of his practice.
“I have already written to my patients and personally apologized for the sudden closure of my practice but … they should know that the CPSA and the AHS is responsible for their discontinuation of psychiatric care,” he said.
Both AHS and CPSA declined to comment on the matter due to privacy regulations. CPSA also confirmed no information about a specific physician or complaints regarding that physician are made public unless a formal disciplinary hearing is called.
As of June 12, Khan’s CPSA physician profile lists no past or current disciplinary action.
While Khan, whose licence to practise is still listed as ‘active’ on CPSA’s website, has not been the subject of public disciplinary action since moving to Alberta, he was involved in a dispute earlier in his career while working in Ireland.
A dual citizen of Pakistan and Ireland, Khan began his career in Ireland in 1996, having previously received training in Pakistan and the U.K.
In 2008, while filling a temporary consultant psychiatrist position with Ireland’s Health Service Executive, Khan was placed on administrative leave after a colleague raised concerns over his treatment of several patients.
The leave was overturned and Khan allowed to return to work later that year however, on the ruling that a breach of fair procedure had taken place when, during a break from a formal inquiry meeting, Khan and his Irish Medical Organization representative left the room, but the opposing colleague and several HSE executives stayed – thus allowing for the potential of collusion.
Khan continued to work as a psychiatrist in Ireland until his move to Canada.
