Foreign doctors face checks after ‘psychiatrist’ exposed

BACKGROUND checks are to be carried out on 3,000 foreign doctors after a woman with no medical qualifications was allowed to work as an NHS psychiatrist for 22 years, it has emerged.

Zholia Alemi, 56, claimed to have a degree from the University of Auckland in New Zealand when she came to work in the UK in 1992. But in fact she failed to pass her first year and subsequently dropped out of the degree without gaining her qualifications, it was reported in The Daily Mail.

Despite lacking a medical background, she was allowed to practise in the UK after the General Medical Council (GMC) failed to check whether her documents were genuine.

The GMC has since admitted that its checks were inadequate and has confirmed an “urgent investigation” will now take place into the backgrounds of 3,000 doctors who came to work to work in the UK from Commonwealth countries before 2003.

At the time when Alemi came to the UK, doctors from a handful of Commonwealth countries could be cleared to start work after showing their qualifications, but were not assessed.

Alemi was found to have forged her documentation after she tried to fake the will of an elderly woman, which saw her jailed for five years last month.

Alemi was investigated and given a warning by the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service in 2012 after failing to disclose a conviction of careless driving. She also sectioned psychiatric patients for treatment without the authority to do so.

Joyce Robine, of Patient Concern, said: “How many patients will she have come into contact with? Patients will be horrified that the proper checks weren’t in place.”

Last night, Charlie Massey, the GMC chief executive, said the case was “extremely concerning”, adding that the doctors who faced checks represented 1 per cent of the 300,000 foreign medics on the register and that the vetting process was more stringent today.