HONG KONG (Reuters) - A Hong Kong surgeon who answered his mobile phone during an operation did not act unprofessionally, the territory's medical council ruled.

A council hearing on Wednesday accepted Dr. Tung Hiu-ming's argument that he had no intention of taking calls while performing surgery.

Tung admitted that he took one call during an operation because he had forgotten to switch off his phone and remove his hands-free headset, but he said he quickly cut the conversation short.

"He told the caller that he was busy as soon as he picked up the phone," Dr. Lee Kin-hung, chairman of the medical council, told Reuters Thursday.

The council ruled in favor of Tung despite records showing that he was on the phone for 14 minutes.

"He was not on the phone for 14 minutes. He merely uttered one sentence. The record showed 14 minutes because the other party did not hang up," Lee said.

The patient, cab driver Chung Chi-cheong, had a very different story.

He told local media in 1999 that he had heard his doctor discussing the purchase of a new car while he was under local anaesthetic to have a polyp removed in his intestines.

Hours later, he was back in hospital to repair a punctured colon wall.

The council dismissed the allegations, accepting medical evidence that it was common for patients to suffer from complications after this kind of operation.

It also said the patient could have suffered temporary memory loss because of the sedatives he had been given.

-- Anonymous, April 12, 2001