AN anaesthetist who botched his role in an operation on a nine-year-old girl has been found guilty of a series of failings by his professional body.

The GMC panel must now determine whether Dr Mariyappan Balasub-ramanian's performance has been impaired, as a result of their findings.

Only then can they consider whether he is guilty of misconduct or not.

If convicted he could either be struck off the medical registers, susp-ended or reprimanded.

Dr Balasubramanian, 66, did not make any notes about the girl's blood loss until prompted by consultant Dr James Fenwick, during surgery at the former Blackburn Royal Infirmary, a General Medical Council (GMC) fitness to practice hearing has ruled.

The four-strong GMC panel was also satisfied that the girl, who lost 30 per cent of her blood supply, needed three units of blood and one litre of gelatin solution, as a result of the doctor's actions, following the September 2004 operation.

But the watchdog found Dr Balasubramanian not guilty of failing to respond to the girl's fast heart rate and blood pressure during the operation.

The doctor, who had worked in East Lancashire for nearly 30 years, had failed an assessment at Burnley General Hospital, the hearing has been told.

Yesterday it was announced that charges - alleging that Dr Bala-subramanian had mixed the wrong drugs for a spinal treatment, and confused two different kinds of hysterectomy during this assessment - were found proved.

The GMC also ruled that he was guilty of giving double the correct dose of morphine to a patient.

Robert Kitching, for the GMC, said the doctor had a tendency to become confused and his communication skills with patients were poor.

The doctor, who was 15 months off retirement at the time, was told he would need a substantial period of retraining before he could be safely allowed to return to work.

He remained on paid leave until he was suspended by East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust in September 2005.

Dr Balasubramanian had claimed that he was suffering from stress at the time of the incidents and had not been made aware of any support services available at the hospital trust.

He denied serious professional misconduct.