Zuber Bux

Introduction

Zuber Bux is a former NHS doctor and former senior partner at a GP practice who was struck off the medical register by the General Medical Council (GMC) after a tribunal found his conduct during the circumcision of a 15-month-old boy amounted to serious misconduct. The boy, referred to in the tribunal’s findings as Patient A, had a known congenital heart condition, and a series of errors during the community-based procedure left him needing emergency hospital treatment “in a potentially life threatening situation.”

In February 2026, the Guardian revealed that Bux, then 55, was still performing circumcisions as a layperson — an activity that remains legal in the UK because there is no requirement for circumcisers to be medically trained. Campaigners described the situation as a “catastrophic failure of child safeguarding.”

Background Information

According to his own website, Bux had been performing circumcisions since 2003 and was a former senior partner at a GP practice. By the time of the Guardian’s 2026 report, the site advertised him as a “circumcision practitioner” offering circumcisions for “religious/cosmetic reasons” for babies up to six months old across north-west England, including Blackburn, Preston, Bolton, Burnley, Accrington and Nelson. The website acknowledged that he was no longer registered with the GMC but did not explain why.

Bux is one of three former doctors who have had their licence to practise removed by the medical regulator over complaints about botched circumcisions between 2012 and 2022, according to data obtained by the National Secular Society (NSS) under freedom of information rules.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated. The findings against Bux are regulatory, not criminal: a General Medical Council panel upheld the NHS complaint of serious misconduct in 2021 and struck him off the medical register, findings Bux contested only through his lawyer’s mitigation that the circumcision was a one-off among thousands performed without complications. He has not been charged with any criminal offence, and the child survived after hospital treatment.

In 2021, the GMC upheld an NHS complaint of serious misconduct over the circumcision of Patient A, a 15-month-old boy with a known heart condition whom Bux operated on in the community. A series of medical blunders led to the boy being transferred to hospital amid fears for his life. Summarising its decision, the GMC panel said: “Patient A was a serious case involving a vulnerable child where Dr Bux adopted a cavalier approach to the procedure resulting in a hospital admission of Patient A in a potentially life threatening situation.”

The tribunal hearing was told that Bux was “reckless and cavalier in his treatment of Patient A” and “risked fatal complications by carrying out the procedure in the community.” The specific failures upheld by the panel included: failing to consider Patient A’s congenital cardiac condition; failing to adequately inform his parents about the risks of the procedure being done in the community; failing to ensure the boy had sufficient pain relief — the cream Bux used did not “produce adequate numbness of the foreskin”; and administering excessive amounts of a liquid morphine.

The panel concluded that Bux’s misconduct was of “such a serious nature” that removing him from the medical register was “the only proportionate sanction to protect the public, promote and maintain public confidence in the medical profession, and to uphold proper professional standards and conduct.” He was also struck off for “financially motivated dishonesty” after signing hundreds of bogus sick notes for his wife’s legal firm.

Bux’s lawyer told the panel the circumcision was a one-off incident and that Bux had conducted thousands of circumcisions in the community without complications or infections. The panel rejected that framing, finding instead that Bux lacked insight into his mistakes, showed no remorse and gave no explicit apology.

Public Reaction and Consequences

The case drew attention to the absence of regulation of non-therapeutic infant circumcision in the UK. Alejandro Sanchez, head of human rights at the National Secular Society, said: “The fact that Mr Bux can perfectly legally continue to circumcise boys is a catastrophic failure of child safeguarding that is endangering the lives of boys.” Sanchez argued more broadly that “ritual circumcision is medically unnecessary, dangerous and violates the child’s independent right to freedom of religion or belief,” and that “when it comes to children, circumcision should only be performed by doctors, and only with medical necessity.”

The Bux case fits a wider pattern. In 2015, private circumciser Mohammad Siddiqui was struck off by the GMC over medical failures in four circumcisions carried out in separate homes; he, too, continued performing circumcisions, and last year was sentenced to more than five years in prison for causing “gratuitous pain and suffering” in circumcisions conducted between 2014 and 2019. The Guardian has separately revealed that the Crown Prosecution Service was consulting on guidance for prosecutors that would categorise circumcision as potential child abuse, amid concern from judges and coroners about the lack of regulation. Since 2001, circumcision has been a factor in the deaths of seven boys, including three who bled to death.

Current Status

As of the Guardian’s February 2026 report, Bux continues to advertise and perform circumcisions as a layperson, which is legal because there is no requirement for circumcisers to be medically trained. His website continues to offer the procedure for “religious/cosmetic reasons” for babies up to six months old in Blackburn, Preston, Bolton, Burnley, Accrington and Nelson, while stating only that he is no longer registered by the GMC, without explanation.

No criminal charges against Bux appear in anything reported; the documented consequences are the regulatory ones imposed by the GMC, while his circumcision business operates outside the regulator’s jurisdiction.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The tribunal ended Bux’s medical career: removal from the medical register means he can no longer practise as a doctor, and his own website confirms he is no longer GMC-registered. The striking-off rested on two distinct findings — the serious misconduct over Patient A’s circumcision and the “financially motivated dishonesty” of signing bogus sick notes for his wife’s legal firm.

In practice, however, the sanction’s reach stopped at the medical register. Because lay circumcision is unregulated, Bux was able to keep performing the very procedure he was struck off over, rebranded as a “circumcision practitioner” serving families across six towns in north-west England. His continued practice, reported by the Guardian in February 2026, has made his case a centerpiece of campaigners’ arguments that the GMC’s sanction is insufficient to protect children.

Sources

• The Guardian, “NHS doctor struck off over botched circumcision still performing operation,” Feb 7, 2026 — source