Atlantic colleges of physicians and surgeons to review joint doctor approval process

Nova Scotia·NewThe review comes after Dr. Sanjeev Sirpal was charged with sexual assault in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.Review comes after Dr. Sanjeev Sirpal was charged with sexual assaultFrances Willick · CBC News · Posted: Dec 04, 2025 12:35 PM EST | Last Updated: 15 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Dr. Sanjeev Sirpal is facing sexual assault charges in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. (NB Lung website)The heads of the four colleges of physicians and surgeons in Atlantic Canada will meet later this month to review the “deeply troubling” case of a doctor charged with sexual assault and to consider how to prevent a similar situation from happening again.The concerns stem from the case of Dr. Sanjeev Sirpal, who is facing sexual assault charges in both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick associated with his employment as a doctor.The initial charge in Nova Scotia followed an allegation that he sexually assaulted a patient while conducting an examination in the emergency room.Sirpal was licensed to practise medicine in New Brunswick and was part of the Atlantic Registry, which allows fully licensed physicians in any of the Atlantic provinces to work in other provinces in the region without applying for a separate licence in each.Dr. Gus Grant, the registrar and CEO of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia, said Thursday the case is “worrisome.”“We need to drill down to ensure it doesn’t happen again and need to identify the lessons that can result in necessary changes.”Dr. Gus Grant is the registrar of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Nova Scotia. (CBC)Grant said he has confidence that each of the colleges in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador are as invested in public safety as Nova Scotia’s is, and that they have administrative processes in place to check the credentials of physicians.“I have to be perfectly frank, this incident with Dr. Sirpal is deeply troubling,” he said. “And we can’t forget that at issue here is the safety of patients he cared for. So we’re going to critically lean into how we can ensure that this doesn’t happen again.”Grant said the Atlantic Registry model was developed to reduce administrative duplication, increase physician mobility between provinces and help address the health-care crisis.The model is being examined nationally as calls increase for national licensing.Grant emphasized that the burden should not fall on individual health authorities to do additional checks on doctors approved through the Atlantic Registry.“The health authorities appropriately should rely on the regulatory colleges to determine licensure and it’s on the colleges to do it in a way that’s safe for the public.”Previous work in QuebecSirpal worked “intermittent emergency department shifts” in Nova Scotia between September 2023 and March 2025, according to Nova Scotia Health.He previously worked in New Brunswick and Quebec.In March, New Brunswick placed conditions on his licence restricting his ability to conduct examinations of a patient’s sexual organs or breasts without a chaperon, and requiring him to explain to the patient, in the presence of the chaperon, why he was conducting the examination.Once those restrictions were put in place, Sirpal was removed from the Atlantic Registry and was no longer permitted to practise in Nova Scotia.The College of Physicians and Surgeons of New Brunswick suspended his licence after he was charged with sexual assault in Nova Scotia in August, and New Brunswick’s Vitalité Health Network told the CBC he was no longer employed by the network as of Aug. 28.In November, municipal police charged Sirpal with sexually assaulting a person in Edmundston, a city in northwestern New Brunswick, on Aug. 7.Before Sirpal came to the Maritimes, his licence to practise in Quebec was revoked by the college there after they ruled he had lied on his 2019 application to the college. The college said Sirpal knowingly omitted information about past academic misconduct that resulted in his dismissal from the University of Miami in 2008.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORFrances Willick is a journalist with CBC Nova Scotia. Please contact her with feedback, story ideas or tips at frances.willick@cbc.caWith files from Michael Gorman