Doctor sorry for sex incident

Southland District Health Board chief executive Dr Gershu Paul "deeply regretted" an incident between himself and a female staff member, he said yesterday.

It is understood the woman became distressed after Dr Paul made sexual advances towards her during a business trip to Queenstown and tried to persuade her to go to his hotel room.

In a written statement, Dr Paul said: "I apologise for the damage that I have caused to the staff member and to all the staff of the Southland District Health Board."

The situation had been reported to the board and dealt with according to its disciplinary process, Dr Paul said.

The matter had been resolved "amicably" between himself and the woman.

But health board candidate Mary Ogg, of Gore, was not swayed by the apology, and demanded resignations.

"Dr Gershu Paul should resign immediately," she said.

"A chief executive officer is expected to be squeaky clean and set an exemplary standard for the organisation he works for."

Chairman Dennis Cairns also appeared to have "muzzled" his board, stopping the sexual harassment claim against Dr Paul from being made public, she said.

Mrs Ogg was concerned the complaint had been "covered up" in the lead-up to the health board election this week.

Mr Cairns said in a statement the complaint had been dealt with "in accordance with the board's written complaints procedure and policies".

As Dr Paul's employer, the board was satisfied it had dealt with issue "appropriately".

Both Dr Paul and the complainant still worked at Southland Hospital. "and the board's employment policies do not permit it to disclose details of the incident itself".

- NZPA