Australian medical college leader suspended from position over alleged health and safety breach

The charities regulator has suspended the president-elect of one of Australia’s oldest medical colleges for allegedly contravening a direction from the NSW work health and safety watchdog. The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) on Monday issued a notice suspending Dr Sharmila Chandran as a responsible person of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, which is a registered charity, until 20 September. SafeWork NSW advised that Chandran’s alleged failure to comply with a directive not to contact RACP staff was exposing them to “immediate and serious risks” to their psychological health and safety, the ACNC said in a public statement. The intervention follows months of conflict within the RACP’s board, which culminated in an extraordinary general meeting last month to which police were called . The suspension leaves the beleaguered medical college in leadership limbo. After a two-year term as president-elect, Chandran had been due to move into the role of president and board chair after an annual general meeting planned for 29 May. The outgoing president, Dr Jennifer Martin, who was meant to end her tenure in May, was ousted five weeks early at a tumultuous April vote, run by Chandran, during which Chandran’s husband called NSW police. The pair had long disagreed on Martin’s push to separate the roles of president and board chair, in line with other medical colleges. …