Sydney, Feb. 18 (PTI): A doctor of Indian origin, who was awarded a medal of the Order of Australia, has been barred from practising at a New South Wales hospital after a homicide squad began a probe into the suspicious deaths of two patients, a report has said.

A 99-year-old woman and a 72-year-old man died last week at Tocumwal Hospital on the New South Wales-Victorian border.

Balaji Rao, the hospital’s only local doctor, confirmed to the Weekend Australian on Friday that he had taken leave until the police investigation was completed.

Rao, who studied medicine in Bangalore University in 1967, was first registered in Australia in 1971. He was awarded a medal of the Order of Australia in 1998 for service to the community, particularly aged people, through the Lion’s Club of Tocumwal and District, the daily said.

Rao, the only doctor in Tocumwal for 35 years, said he would continue to practise in his private clinic in town.