Some 3,000 doctors in the UK are being urgently checked after a woman practiced psychiatry for 22 year without any qualifications.
CUMBRIA POLICE.
Zholia Alemi falsely claimed to have a medical degree from a New Zealand University when she first registered in the UK in 1995. She had dropped out of medical school within the first year.
Zholia Alemi recent job was for a dementia service in west Cumbria, she was trusted to care for the most vulnerable patients. People that were in crisis, battling through mental illness, trauma, and dementia. Her whole career was built on lies. The 56-year-old New Zealander exploited a loophole in the UK medical registration procedures to pass herself off as a qualified doctor. She only had a degree in human biology.
The General Medical Council (GMC) has apologised for their “inadequate” checks in the 1990s. The GMC which decides whether a doctor is qualified to practise in the UK, they have apologised for “any risk arising to patients as a result”.
Alemi was jailed for fraud in October after she faked a dementia patient will in an attempted to inherit her £1.3 million estate.
The GMC said Alemi could join the UK’s medical register under a section of the Medical Act which had not been in force since 2003. The act meant medical school graduates from certain Commonwealth countries could join the register on the basis that they had qualification obtained at home.
What happened.
Alemi met her victim, 84-year-old Gillian Belham after staff at Workington Community Hospital’s Memory Matters Dementia Clinics asked her to assess the widow, who was struggling with the loss of her husband.
Alemi helped her with her shopping, taking her for meals, and offering help with her finances. She managed to fool both her patients and many professionals that she worked with; even the judge who jailed her. Alemi attempted to inherit her £1.3 million estate.
She was jailed for 5 years at Carlisle Crown Court.
Charlie Massey, Chief Executive of GMC said: “We recently became aware that Zhoila Alemi used a fraudulent qualification to join the medical register in 1995 and worked as a doctor until June 2017. These are serious issues and we are investigating them urgently to understand how this happened. We have brought this to the attention of police and other agencies, including NHS England, so that they may also take any necessary action to support patients and answer any questions they may have.
“Our processes are far stronger now, with rigorous testing in place to ensure those joining the register are fit to work in the UK. It is clear that in this case the steps taken in the 1990s were inadequate and we apologise for any risk arising to patients as a result. We are confident that, 23 years on, our systems are robust and would identify any fraudulent attempt to join the medical register.
“Patients deserve good care from appropriately qualified professionals and place a great deal of trust in doctors. To exploit that trust and the respected name of the profession is abhorrent.”
