A HOSPITAL consultant escaped being struck off after conning dying cancer patients into paying him for drugs they could get FREE on the NHS.
Dr Suhail Baluch failed to even check the life-prolonging medication bought by a pal over the web was real.
The specialist, in his 50s, raked in £6,000 after telling two patients the drug for lung and pancreatic cancer called tarceva was only available privately.
He was found guilty of serious misconduct after the General Medical Council heard he got relatives to write cheques with the payee line left blank.
The watchdogs upheld 41 allegations against the £100,000-a-year medic - but let him off with a reprimand because he had said SORRY.
The shamed Portsmouth doctor, who was a cancer specialist at St Richard's Hospital in Chichester, West Sussex, can continue practising. His record will be clean again in five years.
A spokesman for Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital, where he also worked, said of the punishment: "We await receipt of the full details, which will need to be carefully considered. In the interim, Dr Baluch remains on a leave of absence."
Katherine Murphy, director of the Patients' Association, said: "It is extraordinary a healthcare professional would take part in these activities despite the very real risks involved."
Jock McLees, of the organisation's Portsmouth branch, blasted the rap as "extremely light for someone who took advantage of extremely vulnerable people".