GP who stole more than £1million of NHS money to fund ‘desperate’ addiction to online gambling will be axed

A SENIOR GP who stole more than £1million of NHS money to fund his ‘desperate’ addiction to online gambling has been axed.

dr Rumi Chhapia tried to hit the jackpot on slot machines and roulette.

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The 45-year-old, who earns almost £200,000 a year, began his scam after he was blamed for the accounts of a group of 16 people operations.

He embezzled £1.13million over 41 days in 2020.

When colleagues come in Portsmouth, Hansbecame suspicious, claiming his accounts had been hacked.

Southsea’s Chhapia – sentenced to 40 months in prison at the city’s Crown Court last year – has now been removed by a Medical Practitioners Tribunal.

Gambling companies were understood to have agreed to pay back £904,000 after Chhapia wrote them submissive letters.

He gambled away a total of £2.5m, of which he recovered £1.2m.

The funds were stolen while the NHS struggled to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Medical Practitioners Tribunal Chairman Ian Comfort said: “Dr. Chhapia put patients at risk of harm and violated a fundamental tenet of the profession by withdrawing funds needed to provide patient care.

“The tribunal has taken into account that this is not a single incident of fraud, but 64 separate transactions over 41 days totaling a significant amount of money.”