Doctor and husband put stolen hospital on eBay to sell PPE

An NHS doctor and her husband have been jailed for every 10 months after selling the stolen hospital PPE on eBay during Kovid epidemic.

Dr. Attia Sheikh, 45, and 48 -year -old Omar Sheikh made around £ 8,000 from selling individual protective equipment as the virus was spreading throughout the UK in 2020.

The pair accepted the stolen gloves, face masks and online wipes at one time when NHS struggled to catch them.

Sheriff Sukhwinder Gill said that the doctor had done “egoistic violation of the trust” while working at the Hairmaires Hospital in East Killbrid.

Fanin, a supplier of NHS Scotland, saw his products for sale on the Acution website.

Attia Sheikh’s lawyer, John Skulian KC, told the Pasley Sheriff Court that his customer regretted his work.

She said: “She accepts full responsibility. She accepts the important violation of faith that represents the crime.”

The court heard that in July 2020, NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services began looking at the potential theft and resale of PPE.

The investigation identified four separate eBay accounts, such as gloves and wipes such as Sheikh.

A warrant was given to search for his home in Thornalibank near Glasgow.

On the search day in October 2020, Mr. Sheikh was at home.

He directed the counter fraud experts to the attic within the top floor flat, where 121 boxes of rubber gloves were discovered, as well as a box of face masks.

Detectives found that the couple were selling them online for £ 15 to £ 20 for a box.

Attia Sheikh initially claimed that he had not stolen the PPE from the hospital, but was given by another person in the hospital in the car park.

However, the inquiry failed to identify the person.

While sentenced to the pair, Sheriff Gill said that he committed his crime when “the world was in a high state of fear and anxiety” at the beginning of the epidemic “.

He said: “NHS was facing an unprecedented crisis. There was a serious shortage of PPE not only in this country but also globally.

“As a doctor, you clearly knew that this PPE was necessary for the safety of your colleagues and their families in detail.

“This is difficult for those of us who work during the day within these courts, not only in relation to their colleagues but also the more egoistic violation of the trust in relation to the general public.”

The maximum punishment was open to the judge for 12 months in jail.

It was reduced by 10 months due to the early couple’s initial guilty petition.

Gordon Young, head of NHS Scotland Counter Fraud Services, described the crime as “derogatory”.

He told the BBC Scotland News: “To take advantage of people fear and to earn profit from lack of devices that were really necessary, it is actually the opposite message of what is really for NHS.”

He said that in monetary values, it was not the biggest fraud he saw, but said it was an immoral.

“It’s not about the loss of money,” he said.

“It is about someone in his position to take advantage of healthcare and make profit from it.”