CANBERRA, Australia -- Australia is moving quickly toward requesting the extradition of a U.S.-based surgeon accused of manslaughter in the deaths of several patients, Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday.

"We are moving very carefully but swiftly to make sure that justice is done and we want to see this man face justice," Howard told Radio 4BC in Queensland state.

A magistrate issued warrants last November for the arrest of Indian-trained Jayant Patel, 57, a U.S. citizen who lives in Portland, Ore., on three charges of manslaughter and five of grievous bodily harm.

The charges relate to the treatment of patients while he was director of surgery at the Bundaberg Base public hospital in Queensland, 350 kilometers (190 miles) north of the state capital Brisbane, from 2003 to 2005.

A Queensland government-commissioned inquiry concluded that Patel may have contributed directly to a total of 13 deaths due to an "unacceptable level of care" at the hospital.

Patel has refused to discuss publicly the allegations against him.

The Australian newspaper reported Wednesday that Justice Minister David Johnston had approved an extradition request.

Howard declined to confirm that.

"When it's appropriate for the justice minister to say something, he will say something," Howard said.

Johnston's office suggested there would be no confirmation of an extradition request until Patel is arrested by U.S. authorities.

Once the Australian government signs off on the extradition request, it would be forwarded to the U.S. government and a court process could begin. Patel will have the opportunity to fight any extradition request in U.S. courts.

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie, who ordered the investigation of Patel, said state officials had finalized all their extradition paperwork and "we would hope to see actions very soon."

Texas surgeon Vijay Mehta, who like Patel graduated from the state-run M.P. Shah Medical College at Saurashtra University in India's Jamnagar city, said the charges were the result of media and political pressure for "a lynching."

Mehta, a chief surgeon at Temple Medical Center in Temple, Texas, said the Bundaberg hospital had been at fault for allowing a new surgeon to perform complex operations without first monitoring his capabilities.

"The government of Australia and the media in Australia have done a wonderful job of making this man a 'Dr. Death' and he has been indicted even before the first argument is heard," Mehta told Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio by telephone, adding that Patel was being made a scapegoat. The ABC did not say from where Mehta was speaking.

A leading Queensland civil liberties advocate, Michael Cope, said providing Patel with an open-minded jury in the state was complicated by the six-month inquiry into his treatment of patients.

Beattie established a royal commission, a powerful inquiry with wide-ranging powers to imprison witnesses who refuse to testify or lie under oath.

"In a royal commission, where people are cross-examined and extensive evidence is taken, the possibility of adverse impact on a later trial is much greater than with ordinary publicity which comes in the media," Cope, president of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties, told ABC.

Patel is barred from applying for a medical license in the United States until the Australian criminal and professional charges against him are resolved.