Sold for pounds 15 in just 15 minutes ... the slimming pills linked

TWO doctors are selling controversial slimming pills for pounds 15 without carrying out vital checks on patients.

Official guidelines recommend that tablets such as Ionamin should only be prescribed to obese people.

But last week a Sunday Mirror journalist of average weight was sold Ionamin by both Dr Samuel Hales and Dr Pranjivandas Rajput, who have been raking in as much as pounds 1,000 a week from the sale of the drug at the Slim Care Diet Clinic.

An official report last year revealed that slimming tablets - which suppress the desire for food - were linked to the deaths of 15 people.

Experts say the drugs are safe if taken correctly by patients, but dangers arise when used by people desperate to look slim.

And Slim Care's advert in a South London newspaper was straight to the point: "Lose weight, feel good, look good...Give us a try."

Slim Care is run by Dr N. Kumar, but he hardly sees patients. Instead he contracts the work out to Dr Hales and Dr Rajput.

And our investigator had no problem obtaining a batch of Ionamin when he visited the Slim Care clinic near Selfridges department store in the centre of London.

The second-floor surgery was reached by a rickety staircase above a sandwich shop. Empty boxes and bags of rubbish cluttered the foot of the stairs.

Dr Hales, listed in the 1998 Medical Register as a member of the Royal College of Surgeons and Royal College of Physicians, sat at his desk.

Asking where we had heard about the clinic, he handed our investigator a medical record card to fill in.

A notice sellotaped to the wall said ID was required from all new patients.

But our investigator gave a false name and address and a bogus doctor's name without any questions being asked.

Dr Hales asked for a brief medical history before showing our investigator into another room where he was weighed and measured.

After consulting a photocopied chart, Dr Hales pronounced: "You are two stone overweight. Your ideal weight should be around 10 stone."

Our surprised reporter - who was later told by his own doctor that he was "at the most a few pounds overweight" - was then offered a six- week course of Ionamin tablets for pounds 68. Not only can they have side effects such as high blood pressure, hallucinations, palpitations and insomnia, but they can also be highly addictive. Experts recommend that their use should be strictly controlled.

Dr Hales said: "We treat lots of people. Usually women, but we get the occasional man in here now and then.

"We don't guarantee results but we like to help people lose weight. Slimming pills can help."

Before handing over the drugs, Dr Hales pointed to a section on the card which asked patients if they would, or would not, want details of the slimming pills made known to their own doctor.

Dr Hales, who is a fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, said: "Most people just cross out 'would' on the form so we don't inform their GPs what we have prescribed."

But the General Medical Council, the medical profession's governing body, has issued guidelines saying that clinics should stress the importance of notifying GPs.

At no stage was a simple check made to establish whether the doctor's name given by our investigator even existed.

Then, from an insecure-looking cabinet, Dr Hales produced two weeks' supply of Ionamin tablets at pounds 15 a time which he sold to our investigator for pounds 30.

When asked whether the drugs were addictive, Dr Hales replied: "Some people get hallucinations or headaches."

But two years ago Jennifer Ellis, from York, died from a brain haemorrhage just three days after being prescribed Ionamin from a slimming clinic.

Only 15 minutes after registering as a new patient, our investigator walked out with a supply of Ionamin.

If our man had been a drugs dealer the amphetamine-based pills could have been in the hands of teenagers within minutes - at double the price he had paid. Experts stress that diet-pills should only be used if dieting and exercise have failed to reduce the weight of a seriously obese person.

But Britain's booming slimming clinic business is a lucrative concern, worth worth a total of up to pounds 20 billion, say medical experts.

The last Tory Government promised to ban slimming pills, but the legislation never materialised.

Our investigator also visited Slim Care's surgery in Denmark Hill, Camberwell, South London, where Dr Rajput asked our reporter to fill in a record card.

Dr Rajput asked our investigator for a brief medical history which required simple yes/no answers, then weighed him. Again our reporter was told: "You are about a stone and a half overweight."

Dr Rajput said he had two types of drugs: Duromin, at pounds 12 a week, or Ionamin, at pounds 15 a week. "Ionamin is dearer because it is stronger," he said. "It is entirely up to you." At no point was our investigator warned of the possible side-effects from either drug until he asked himself.