One New Zealand doctor has been axed after offering a medical student good marks in return for sex. "It was suggested that if she [the student] slept with him, he would make sure she got good marks, which, one, he was in the position to do, and, two, she did not want to and, three, she did not," says the University of Otago School of Medicine programme director Dr Branko Sijnja. Since then his District Health Board job has not been renewed and the Medical Council says he will be subject of a professional inquiry. It has been revealed at least three experienced consultants have lost jobs for bullying and sexual harassment within the health sector, the New Zealand Herald reports. A crackdown on bullying within hospitals has come about after students from the New Zealand Medical Students' Association (NZMSA) published a dossier revealing multiple examples in August. Other complaints by students include degrading comments, such as they would make "useless" doctors and wouldn't pass their exams. Action has been taken against the health professionals in three of the more serious incidents. District Health Board chief executive Jim Green told NZ Herald that although he wasn't aware of Dr Sijnja's complaints, it was "absolutely and totally unacceptable on any level". Fifth-year medical students are given clinical experience under the Rural Medical Immersion Programme in rural hospitals and practices throughout New Zealand. Mr Green says a joint working party was working on an initiative to eliminate workplace bullying within the health sector. Source
