Former Winnipeg doctor reprimanded after latest watchdog inquiry into professional misconduct

A former Winnipeg doctor who twice ran in elections for the provincial Progressive Conservative Party has been reprimanded by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Manitoba for doctoring vaccination records in a patient's medical chart, as well as unprofessional communication in emails sent to the college's investigators.

The college's complaints investigation committee found three counts of misconduct following an inquiry into Naseer Ahmed Warraich, including one instance of modifying an infant's vaccination record.

That inquiry comes after Warriach was stripped of his licence to practise medicine in 2021 following an earlier inquiry, which found he kept inadequate records, created false ones and in one case arranged for claims for services to be submitted for care home residents he never actually saw.

The latest investigation found Warraich intentionally modified vaccination records of an infant's medical chart in an attempt to keep his medical misconduct from being investigated during the inquiry, according to a recently released decision from a college inquiry panel.

Warraich later admitted to the inquiry panel that he "did not know which vaccinations were administered" to the infant, according to the decision, dated Jan. 30.

Unprofessional emails

The decision also details what investigators found was unprofessional communication from Warraich in a series of emails sent to the inquiry's panel. 

Emails sent by Warraich between Jan. 19-27, 2021, after he had found out the college would be cancelling his registration and licence, accused the watchdog of racism and called college officials "killers" who were "torturing" him with their inquiry, the decision says.

Warriach claimed the college's lawyer had tormented him for hours during an investigative interview in 2017 while he was observing Ramadan by fasting. "She push[ed] me to drink water," Warraich alleged in an email to the college's registrar.

The language in the emails escalated, the decision says, with Warraich threatening at one point to kill himself in front of the panel at the college.

In part due to this threat, the college investigated whether there were any medical or mental health issues that would explain Warraich's conduct, but found no such issues, the decision says.

The college's panel determined Warraich's actions during the inquiry demonstrated he is unfit to practise medicine.

Since Warriach's medical licence had already been revoked by the college in 2021, the panel concluded a reprimand was appropriate, as the public was not in danger from any further misconduct.

Past inquiries

Prior to 2021, Warraich had been subject to other discipline from the college.

His licence was suspended for two months and he was fined $16,000 by the college in 2006, after being accused of six counts of professional misconduct. 

According to the college's inquiry, Warraich had co-signed prescriptions for U.S. patients he had never met in up to 20 pharmacies.

Some prescriptions were for animals, though Warraich has never been a veterinarian. 

In 2016, the college put restrictions on Warriach's practice, limiting the number of patients he was allowed to see and limiting his attendance at a personal care home. The college also required Warraich to have a supervisor on site at his medical practice who would report to an investigation chair.

In late 2018, Warraich was charged again with professional misconduct.

He was found guilty of six counts in the subsequent inquiry, and the college revoked his medical licence in 2021. He was also fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $90,000 for the cost of the inquiry. 

Warriach appealed the order, but the appeal was dismissed in August 2022.

Candidate for PC party

Five years after the college's first inquiry, Warraich unsuccessfully ran in the 2011 provincial election for the Progressive Conservative Party in Winnipeg's Concordia riding.

He ran unsucessfully for a second time for the PC Party, this time in the Tyndall Park riding, in the 2016 election.

During his 2016 run, Warriach told the CBC that the restrictions on his practice in place at that time were due to his "workload."