Image: JACOLINE PRINSLOO
The World Medical Association (WMA) will advise physicians around the globe about the risks of working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), triggered by the legal action against retired doctor Cyril Karabus.
The Cape Times reported on Monday that the WMA sent the advisory to its 102 member countries following a council meeting in Bali last week.
The WMA passed a resolution saying it believed Karabus was being treated in a manner "which fails to meet international fair trial standards and he should be allowed to return home immediately".
The SA Medical Association (Sama) first pushed for the WMA to call for health workers to boycott the UAE but settled on the advisory instead.
Karabus, 78, a former Cape Town paediatric oncologist who was detained in the UAE for about eight months, was recently acquitted of manslaughter and of falsifying documents after the death of a three-year-old Yemeni girl he treated for leukaemia in 2002.
Last week, the prosecution announced it planned to appeal.
Karabus told the newspaper on Sunday that he was set to appear in a UAE court again on Tuesday.
He did not believe the WMA advisory would affect UAE authorities.
"I don't think they care... I don't think they'll take too much notice," he said.