Campaigners gather outside the Scottish Parliament to demand a public inquiry into Sam Eljamel

Campaigners gathered outside the Scottish Parliament to demand a public inquiry into disgraced surgeon Sam Eljamel.   

Dressed in medical scrubs and face masks, they warned that without a public inquiry, the actions of the former NHS Tayside surgeon could happen again.   

They repeated: “Could this happen again? Yes, we need a public inquiry.   

“Why? Decades of harm.”   

MSPs from the Conservatives, Labour, Lib Dems, and SNP joined campaigners in asking the Scottish Government for a public inquiry into the actions of Eljamel over the 18 years he practised at NHS Tayside.   

The consultant neurosurgeon left patients with life-altering injuries, and in one case, he removed a woman's tear gland instead of a tumour.   

A review published by NHS Tayside last week detailed how the consultant neurosurgeon was subject to light-touch "indirect" supervision before being removed from his post in December 2013.     

Tory MSP Liz Smith, who has been working with the campaigners for several months, told the group the process of searching for answers had been “slow and difficult” 

She said: “The case for an independent public inquiry, I think, is now incontrovertible. We will get there. 

“On the basis of what has happened since you were last here [at Holyrood], things have progressed; we had the whistleblower situation just before parliamentary recess, we have had the devasting report from NHS Tayside just last week, and that has added to all the facts that we need to uncover the truth.   

“We have people in all political parties in this parliament who are speaking up to tell the first minister that nothing is going to take away from the fact that we must have this public inquiry to get to the truth that you so deserve.”   

Labour MSP Michael Marra said: “I can see from the tears that some people are shedding that it’s challenging even talking about some of this.   

“We have got this far, and the admission from NHS Tayside that they knew what was going on and they didn’t stop Eljamel from operating, that only came about because of your activism, and you stuck with it when people weren’t listening.”