Sao Paulo, Aug 25 (EFE) Roger Abdelmassih, a Brazilian doctor arrested last week on charges that he sexually abused dozens of patients, is also under investigation for manipulating genetic material at his fertility clinic here, Globo television has reported.

The new allegations were levelled by a task force from the Sao Paulo state attorney general's office after questioning patients who claim they were sexually abused and even raped at the clinic.

Prosecutors cited by Globo said some patients told investigators that the doctor proposed using eggs from other women if he was unable to fertilise their eggs.

65-year-old Abdelmassih allegedly said he could use eggs from other women, keeping the procedures secret, even from patients' spouses.

The doctor, whose Sao Paulo clinic counted some Brazilian celebrities among its patients, has been officially accused of sexually abusing 56 patients, who were offered artificial insemination and other fertility treatments.

The victims alleged that they caught the doctor touching them inappropriately or abusing them as they awakened from anaesthesia administered for various procedures.

Some patients said they now had doubts about whether the children they bore following the specialist's treatments were the product of their own eggs or those of other women.

Abdelmassih's success rate in helping women with fertility problems have children exceeded that of other clinics.