Apprentice contestant struck off medical register over social media posts

A former contestant on TV show The Apprentice who sent a string of antisemitic, racist and sexist posts on social media has been struck off the medical register.

Dr Asif Munaf posted and reposted “seriously offensive” comments from his X account @DrAsifOfficial on 36 occasions between October 2023 and last July.

He appeared on the 2024 edition of the BBC series fronted by business tycoon Lord Sugar.

Among the antisemitic posts was one in which he wrote: “You only have to go to North London to see the Jewish love for a bakery. Lots of bagel shops and many of them very nice with great coffee. Does the obsession with baking and ovens explain the uncontested and unproven claims of 6 million Jews and 40 beheaded babies in ovens?”.

The doctor also posted: “9/11 wasn’t an inside job. Let’s call it for what it really is. A Jewish job.”

Dr Munaf, registered under his full name Mohammed Asif Munaf, did not attend the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing and was not legally represented.

At a previous hearing he denied his posts were antisemitic and added they were “not befitting of someone as educated as myself “and were said in the heat of the emotion”.

Dr Munaf was also found by the MPTS to have walked out of a locum placement as a cardiology specialist registrar at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust in January 2024 without notice or good reason.

He also provided a sick note to a patient in November 2024 while he was suspended from practice.

MPTS chairwoman Kate Kirwin said Dr Munaf’s conduct on social media was “sustained and repeated” and that he continued making discriminatory posts on X after the matter was first brought to its attention.

She said the post about “ovens” was “deliberately shocking and provocative by denying/minimising the holocaust and making explicit reference to death and beheaded babies”.

Dr Munaf showed “a complete disregard and a lack of respect” for the function of the regulator when he deliberately ignored its requirements and issued a sick note when he was not permitted, she said.

The MPTS also ruled Dr Munaf acted “unprofessionally and without any apparent care for patients or respect for colleagues” when leaving the locum placement.

Ms Kirwin said: “All of these behaviours indicate an arrogant disregard for patients and colleagues, the views of others and the regulator.

“Such behaviour, individually and taken as a whole, is unbefitting a registered doctor and indicative of the fact that Dr Munaf’s character may be unsuitable to practice in the medical profession, in part due to the determination of a deep-seated and ongoing attitudinal issue.

“The tribunal considered that there was no evidence of insight or even reflection in Dr Munaf’s case, and no evidence of any attempt to remediate or prevent future recurrence.

“The seriousness of the facts found proven and associated ongoing risk to public protection mean the effect of Dr Munaf continuing to hold registration would undermine public confidence in the profession.”

Following the decision, a spokeswoman for the General Medical Council said: “There is no place for antisemitism, sexism or misogyny in medicine, and we will always seek to strike off doctors for such conduct.”