Vangu Kitoko has been refused permission to pursue the race discrimination complaint against Sydney Local Health District (SDHD) and Dr George Lord. At the time of the incident which was the subject of the Complaint Dr Lord was a Visiting Medical Officer at Concord Repatriation General Hospital. Dr Lord died in late 2016, subsequent to the lodgement of the Complaint. Mr Kitoko asserted that Dr Lord refused to provide a copy of a nerve conduction study that was conducted on 16 October 2012. Mr Kitoko also claims that Dr Lord refused to provide “the true results” of the nerve conduction study. Mr Kitoko claimed that one of the reasons Dr Lord did not give him the nerve conduction study results was because of his race. Mr Kitoko alleged that during a consultation Dr Lord said to him: “I do not think anything interesting will be found to help an African to get the Australian money. We are Australians not you guys.” Mr Kitoko claimed that Dr Lord’s alleged comment was made in reference to a compensation claim arising from an injury sustained at a shopping centre. He claimed that Dr Lord conspired with the shopping centre’s insurer to deny him evidence to support his claim. In February 2016, Dr Lord wrote to the ADB denying having made the comment. He told the ADB that Mr Kitoko’s clinical presentation had been addressed in a “thorough and caring manner”. On 26 February 2016 the ADB referred the Complaint to the Tribunal under s 93C(a) of the AD Act, on the basis that the President of the ADB was of the opinion that the Complaint could not be resolved by conciliation. The Tribunal concluded that Mr Kitoko’s complaint was “frivolous, vexatious, misconceived or lacking in substance” and that the conduct he had complained about “if proven, would not disclose a contravention of the provisions of [the AD Act]”. The Tribunal dismissed Mr Kitoko’s complaint.
