AN ANAESTHETIST who botched his role in an operation on a nine-year-old girl faces being struck off by his professional body.

The General Medical Council (GMC) panel has determined that the performance of Dr Mariyappan Balasubramanian was impaired by his misconduct and deficient professional performance.

They are now considering whether he should be struck off the medical registers, suspended or reprimanded.

Dr Balasubramanian, 66, did not make any notes about the girl's blood loss until prompted by consultant Dr James Fenwick, during surgery at the former Blackburn Royal Infirmary, a GMC fitness to practice hearing has ruled.

The four-strong GMC panel was also satisfied that the girl, who lost 30 per cent of her blood supply, needed three units of blood and one litre of gelatin solution, as a result of the doctor's actions, following the September 2004 operation. But the watchdog found Dr Balasubramanian not guilty of failing to respond to the girl's fast heart rate and blood pressure during the operation.

The doctor, who had worked in East Lancs for nearly 30 years, had failed an assessment at Burnley General Hospital, the hearing has been told.

Yesterday he was found guilty of a series of failings. And the day before it was announced that charges, alleging Dr Balasubramanian had mixed the wrong drugs for a spinal treatment, and confused two different kinds of hysterectomy, during this assessment were found proved.

The GMC also ruled he was guilty of giving double the correct dose of morphine to a patient. Robert Kitching, for the GMC, said the doctor had a tendency to become confused and his communication skills with patients were poor.

The doctor, who was 15 months off retirement at the time, was told he would need a substantial period of retraining before he could be safely allowed to return to work.

He remained on paid leave until he was suspended by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust in September 2005.

Dr Balasubramanian claimed he was suffering from stress at the time of the incidents and had not been made aware of any support services available at the hospital trust.

He denied serious professional misconduct.