SINGAPORE — A doctor based in Australia has been suspended following a public outcry over a series of “inappropriate and offensive statements" on rape he posted in several online forums, including Singapore’s HardwareZone.com.

Dr Christopher Lee Kwan Chen’s six-week suspension takes effect today (April 30).

The Malaysian previously practised in Tasmania and was most recently an emergency doctor at the Box Hill Hospital in Victoria.

The Tasmanian Health Practitioners Tribunal meted out the suspension in April after Dr Lee admitted to posting the remarks, reported British newspaper The Guardian.

He was due to start the suspension in May, to give his workplace time to find replacement, but after public pressure, Dr Lee was told not to return to work by Eastern Health, which governs the Victoria hospital.

The suspension bars him from working anywhere in Australia, according to news reports.

‘APPALLING BEHAVIOUR’

The tribunal heard that Dr Lee, who used the online pseudonym Nachtsider, posted comments which included: “Some women deserve to be raped, and that supercilious little b**** fits the bill in every way.”

He was found to have posted them between 2016 and 2018, mostly on HardwareZone.com.

In a post made in February, Dr Lee wrote: “Singaporean women are some of the most materialistic, pampered and self-entitled women you are likely to meet anywhere.”

He even took revenge on a woman who criticised him online by posting her nude photos on the Internet, The Guardian reports, forcing her to close down her online accounts.

“A new legion of perverts” would be viewing her images, he wrote, “I won”.

Netizens took to Eastern Health’s Facebook page to demand that Dr Lee’s medical licence be revoked.

“Dr Lee will not be returning to work until the completion of this investigation,” Eastern Health said in a statement.

“We (take) the issue of professional misconduct very seriously… we value diversity, inclusivity and living together respectfully and do not tolerate disrespectful comments or racism in any form.”

A spokesperson for Victorian Health Minister Jenny Mikakos told Australia’s ABC that Ms Mikakos had asked the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency if the six-week suspension was adequate.

“This behaviour is appalling and has no place in Victoria, let alone in our hospitals,” the spokesperson said.

According to news reports, Dr Lee claimed that he was "relatively young and inexperienced" when he posted the comments, and that he had "a brash and opinionated bent on his conduct on social media".

A joint submission by the Medical Board of Australia and Dr Lee also stressed that the doctor has not permitted his socio-political and other personal views "to colour or influence his medical practice".

He has also "never been discriminatory or derogatory towards the groups of individuals that his comments are alleged to be inflammatory of", the submission said.

Along with the six-week ban, the tribunal ordered Dr Lee to undergo training about ethical behaviour on social media, The Guardian reports.

However, Dr Lee continued posting online, saying: “We’ll see who has the last laugh.”

Prior to this, Dr Lee was cautioned by his former employer, Royal Hobart Hospital, for accessing a patient’s medical records on 21 occasions “without consent or clinical need”. AGENCIES