Sexual-assault allegations against doctor spur review of cross-province licensing system

Canada’s first interprovincial physician licensing program is under review by regulators after a doctor who had lost his licence in Quebec was able to continue practising in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, where he now stands accused of sexually assaulting six patients.

The doctor, Sanjeev Sirpal, 39, had his licence revoked in Quebec in 2022 for failing to disclose that he had once been dismissed from medical school. The Quebec College of Physicians, the province’s regulatory body for doctors, began investigating him after a woman came forward with an allegation of sexual assault against him.