Disgraced obstetrician attempts work as a surgeon

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A disgraced obstetrician who left Wanganui Hospital amidst reports of botched sterilisation procedures has since tried to get work as a surgeon at a Sydney Hospital.

Czech-trained Roman Hasil made headlines in New Zealand in 2008 when then Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson released a report which revealed Hasil botched eight of 32 sterilisations. Six patients became pregnant and some had to abort.

But it was his past, which no one was aware of as he worked at the hospital, which really alarmed the country and those he had operated on.

It was later revealed that Hasil was jailed in 1995 for domestic violence against his second wife in Singapore.

He also failed an Australian medical exam three times and when he left a New South Wales hospital it was later revealed it was because he was fiddling timesheets.

He was also sacked from another hospital for drinking on the job.

But perhaps the most alarming piece of Hasil's past was the fact he was a suspect in an infamous unsolved murder in Australia.

Italian backpacker Victoria Cafasso was beaten to death and dumped in the water. Her body later washed up on a Tasmania beach, but no one has ever been charged with the murder.

Hasil lived in the area and had no alibi.

Today, news.com.au reported Hasil was due to appear at a New South Wales Medical Tribunal proceeding yesterday which could have seen him struck off, but he failed to show.

It was at this hearing that it came to light that Hasil had phoned The Sydney Private Hospital on June 21, offering himself for a "large amount of surgical work".

In February the tribunal found that Hasil's behaviour did not make him unfit to practise medicine, but the 57-year-old could still be struck off because of a brain injury.

In 2009, after leaving New Zealand, Hasil suffered a head injury which required brain surgery.

The hearing was rescheduled to October 17, and if he did not show then the hearing would proceed without him.

Hasil has already been suspended and deregistered in NSW for not paying his medical board fees.