A SURGEON involved in the Bristol heart babies scandal who alleged he was sacked unfairly following the affair has lost his unfair dismissal claim.

Janardan Dhasmana, 60, was dismissed from his post in September 1998 following the scandal over the high death rate among young children undergoing cardiac surgery at the Bristol Royal Infirmary between 1988 and 1995.

He was dismissed by United Bristol Healthcare Trust (UBHT), which runs the BRI, after being found guilty of serious professional misconduct by the General Medical Council. But Mr Dhasmana claimed he had been made a "scapegoat" by the trust and brought a case for unfair dismissal and breach of contract to an employment tribunal in Bristol earlier this month.

Yesterday the tribunal panel dismissed all of Mr Dhasmana's claims. The decision was welcomed by Anne Waite, whose daughter, Caroline, two, died after heart surgery by Mr Dhasmana 16 years ago.

Mrs Waite, of Barthropp Street, Newport, said: "I am pleased, but he is still working." In 1998, the General Medical Council banned Mr Dhasmana from operating on children, but the ban was lifted last month.

Fellow surgeon James Wisheart and NHS trust boss Dr John Roylance had also been struck off.

Last year Mr Dhasmana was cleared to perform heart surgery on adults through supervised retraining. In June, the GMC ruled he could begin unsupervised heart surgery again after he undertook never to perform heart operations on children, but the official ruling banning that was lifted.

A spokeswoman for UBHT said the trust would be making no official comment on the outcome of the tribunal. Solicitors acting for Mr Dhasmana also refused to comment. At the three-day tribunal earlier this month, UBHT's chief executive Hugh Ross said Mr Dhasmana had been sacked because he had lost the "trust and confidence of his colleagues".