Government says it will come down hard on fake doctors

Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt says the government will work to bring to task the two people who posed as doctors in Australia for years before being caught.

Shyam Acharya and Phoebe Pacheco both worked as doctors using fake credentials and treated hundreds of patients in New South Wales and Victoria.

Under current laws, both face a $30,000 fine if convicted of breaching Australian health laws, but Hunt says he will be pursuing jail time for Acharya and Pacheco and anyone else caught rorting the system.

“Impersonating medical professionals is a serious crime and should be treated as such,” he told Starts at 60.

“I will work with all states and territories to ensure there are heavy penalties, including the option of jail terms, for people who falsely claim to be doctors.

“I will be raising this matter with my state and territory counterparts at COAG later this month as a top priority.”

Acharya was ousted after posing as UK doctor Sarang Chitale since entering Australia on a fake passport in 2003. He has been tracked to India after going on the run before he was due to face court in Sydney last week.

He worked for government hospitals for years and was only discovered as a fake when he went to work for a private organisation. Past colleagues have since come forward to say they questioned his qualifications privately, but never made an official complaint against him.

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency said it is investigating Pacheco, who carried out minor procedures on patients at Werribee Cosmetic Medicine between January 2013 and October last year.

They have notified the Health Department about at least 145 patients who were treated by her throughout that time.

Australian Medical Association President Michael Gannon told the ABC it was difficult for the Medical Board to run identity checks on all doctors registering to practice in Australia.

“There’s literally thousands of medical schools around the world, and it’s actually difficult to produce these checks,” he said. “But it’s absolutely essential that Australian patients are protected, and that they need to develop the appropriate mechanisms to vet the qualifications of doctors that arrive from other countries.

“It’s been too easy for the public hospital system to fill vacancies with doctors coming from overseas. They need to make greater efforts to make sure that people say who they are.”

Do you think the system needs to change to ensure this doesn’t happen again? Have you ever questioned the treatment prescribed by your doctor?