A pretty sickening and fucked up situation has played out in Sydney, where a person used a fake passport and identity to evade Australian Border Security all the way back in 2003, and pose as a doctor for 11 years. The New South Wales Health deputy secretary, Karen Crawshaw, released the information in a statement today.
This may sound like a deleted scene from ‘Catch Me If You Can‘, but it’s nothing more than the cooked out truth. This man – who went by the alias Shyam Acharya – totally convinced the Medical Board of NSW when he “registered as a doctor” in 2003. He worked at heaps of hospitals throughout Sydney – like Wyong, Hornsby, Gosford and Manly – until 2014, and none of his managers had any idea that he was in NO WAY A DOCTOR.
He makes this guy look like a doctor.
While NSW Health wouldn’t specifically confirm that Acharya had any relevant qualifications before coming to Australia, that’s what it looks like. What’s even more wild is that pretty much no formal complaint was made against him to the Health Care Complaints Commission, except for one patient who referred to “inadequate treatment” – while that’s obviously not ideal, it’s kind of impressive that this guy who, can I stress, is in NO WAY A DOCTOR, managed to work as one for over a decade without anybody thinking as such.
The Federal and State Governments are understandably super freaked out that someone managed to get through border security with a moot passport where he assumed the identity of an Indian citizen with medical credentials. It is something to worry about, of course, but the intensity of this situation stems largely from the fact that this person would’ve come into contact with so many punters in a doctor/patient capacity, which he obviously wasn’t trained in.
Pretty darn hectic. He is facing a $30K fine from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and is yet to be located, so maybe don’t go outside.
Source: ABC News.
Photo: The Simpsons.
