A CANCER surgeon who allegedly lied about his ability to conduct keyhole surgery in order to secure an £84,000-a-year job at a hospital trust in Worcestershire is to stand trial.

Sudip Sarker, 47, is accused of lying about his experience while applying for the post of consultant general surgeon at Worcestershire Royal Hospital and the Alexandra Hospital, in Redditch.

Sarker, now of Botany Road, Broadstairs, Kent, denied one charge of making a gain through fraud by false representation when he appeared at Worcester Crown Court on Tuesday, February 21.

It is alleged he exaggerated his ability to carry out certain bowel operations between May 9, 2011 and September 1, 2011 when he worked for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.

The charge says he claimed to have undertaken 80 sigmoid colectomies, with 51 of them carried out independently.

The trial is expected to last between three and four weeks and has been scheduled to start on January 22 next year.

Sarker was granted unconditional bail.