A Durban medical technologist sent colleagues a "humorous" e-mail which his boss felt depicted him as an anus.
|||Durban - Durban medical technologist Tyrone Venketsamy said he would think twice before sending off “humorous” e-mails again, after finding himself on the wrong side of his boss.
While he was on Thursday found not guilty of misconduct by the appeals committee of the Health Professions Council of SA (HPCSA) - for allegedly likening his boss to an anus - Venketsamy, 51, said he had learnt his lesson and would be more careful about what he forwarded in future.
He said he now realised the e-mail, sent as a “joke”, could have destroyed his career if he had been found guilty.
An e-mail attachment had been sent with the subject line, “FW: Spot Your Boss”, to health professionals at Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital in September 2008 by Venketsamy, who was then a senior medical technologist at the virology laboratory.
His former boss, Dr Pravi Moodley, the acting head of the hospital’s virology department, took offence as he believed the image depicted him as an anus.
Not so, Venketsamy argued.
He said the image was of herpes-infested lips, not an anus. Venketsamy said he had received the e-mail from someone at National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS), his former employer, and “found it humorous”.
He shared it with his colleagues before deleting it.
Venketsamy was charged internally and pleaded guilty to a charge relating to misuse of the NHLS IT policy in 2009.
Moodley told the appeals committee he became aware of the e-mail when someone showed him a printout.
He said he was angered and lodged a complaint with human resources later that day.
Asked what he had thought of the image, he said: “I inferred that the attachment was saying the boss was an as**ole. I inferred that the boss was me.”
A colleague of Venketsamy’s, Xolani Zulu, who replied to all recipients in the e-mail with the words “good one”, was not reported to the HPCSA.
Asked why this was so, Moodley said Zulu had come to him on the same afternoon and begged for his forgiveness.
He said he had forgiven Zulu, who had been disciplined internally for his part in the redistribution of the e-mail.
Viraj Ramdas, the pro forma complainant in the HSPCA hearing, said there had been tension between Venketsamy and Moodley at the time.
He said Venketsamy would have “enjoyed” making fun at Moodley’s expense.
His witnesses, Moodley and a former intern, Neshnee Ramjugath, both agreed the e-mail was in bad taste and unprofessional.
They both testified that they perceived the offending image to be that of an anus.
However, the chairman of the HSPCA appeals committee, Pule Maoka, with five other members concurring, found that it was “not clear” what exactly was depicted in the image, and found Venketsamy not guilty.
“It is clear that Moodley had something to do with the prosecution of the matter. He had an interest. Why he waited a year to prosecute, only he knows,” Maoka said.
“The committee could not find that the pictures were derogatory.”
Venketsamy expressed relief at the verdict, maintaining that the e-mail was “just a joke” and that he had not intended to harm anybody.
He said he had been unemployed since November 2009 when the NHLS fired him for procedural reasons.
His dismissal was under review by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration, he said, and a decision was expected next week.
sihle.mlambo@inl.co.za
Daily News