A Limburg doctor who is appealing against his conviction on three rape charges has been banned from practising because of the “risk to patient health”. 

Sebastiaan van Peer, who lives in Belgium but works as a family doctor in Brunssum, was jailed for three years last year for raping three elderly patients, but is currently appealing against that sentence, local broadcaster 1Limburg said.

He is allowed to continue to work because that conviction is not yet final. 

Health ministry inspectors have now decided Van Peer does not meet the conditions to provide good, safe care to his patients because there is a “considerable likelihood that patient health will be seriously compromised.”

In October, the 54-year-old will appear in court charged with another count of sexual abuse, for which he was arrested in February. 

He has now been banned from working pending a formal investigation by the healthcare disciplinary board, which may take several weeks. The triple rape conviction included a five-year suspension of his licence to practice family medicine. 

In 2017, he was also banned from practicing as a doctor for six months after having sex with a patient.