Urgent Checks After Fake Psychiatrist Practised In Nhs For 22 Years news.sky.com
Zholia Alemi claimed she had a primary medical qualification from the University of Auckland in New Zealand when she first registered in the UK in 1995.
She joined the medical register in the UK under a section of the Medical Act which has not been in force since 2003.
It allowed graduates of medical schools in certain Commonwealth countries, including New Zealand, to obtain registration on the basis of their qualification, without having to sit and pass the standard two-part assessment of their medical knowledge and skills – the Professional and Linguistic Assessment Board exam.
The GMC has now admitted these documents were not subject to the rigorous checks that exist today and there is now an urgent investigation with checks on the licences of potentially thousands of other doctors who registered via the same route.
Alemi, 55, was jailed for fraud in October this year after she changed an elderly patient's will to make herself a beneficiary.
While working as a consultant psychiatrist for a dementia service in West Cumbria, Alemi exploited her relationship with her vulnerable victim, even applying for power of attorney in her name.
The victim, who knew Alemi as "Julia", told police: "Julia has drafted a will. Julia has put herself down for everything as I did not tell her I had a famibut I don't want her having it all."
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