Zholia Alemi practised for 22 years as a psychiatrist without being qualified

The request was partially successful.

Dear General Medical Council,

I refer to a disturbing article in today's Daily Mail:

"The backgrounds of 3,000 foreign doctors are being urgently checked after a conwoman with no qualifications was allowed to work as an NHS psychiatrist for 22 years.

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.

In reality, the convicted fraudster had flunked her first year and dropped out."

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

Please provide information on the checks you make to ensure that people from overseas wishing to work as doctors in the UK have the qualifications they say they have.

If you have any information on the number of patients Alemi sectioned during her fraudlent career, or on patients she had who killed themselves, please provide.

Yours faithfully,

J Roberts

FOI, General Medical Council

Thank you for getting in touch. Please note this is an automated email.

 

We’ll get back to you as soon as we can with a further acknowledgement.
You’ll usually hear from us on the next working day, but it might take a
little longer during busy periods.

 

In the meantime, if you want any further information about the GMC, please
visit our website.

 

 

Thank you

 

Information access team

General Medical Council

Email: [GMC request email]

Telephone: 0161 923 6365

Working with doctors Working for patients

The General Medical Council helps to protect patients and improve medical
education and practice in the UK by setting standards for students and
doctors. We support them in achieving (and exceeding) those standards, and
take action when they are not met.

show quoted sections

FOI, General Medical Council

Dear Mr Roberts

 

Your information request - F18/9851/SJ

 

Thank you for your email dated 19 November 2018.

 

How we will consider your request

 

We’re going to consider your request under the Freedom of Information Act
2000 (FOIA). The FOIA gives us 20 working days to respond, but we’ll come
back to you as soon as we can.

 

Who to contact

 

Sadie Jones will be handling your request. If you have any questions you
can call her on 0161 250 6889 or email her at [1][email address].

 

 

 

Yours sincerely

 

Loredana Cojan

 

Information Access Team  Administrator

[2][email address]

 

0161 240 8189

 

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

 

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

show quoted sections

Sadie Jones (0161 250 6889), General Medical Council

Dear J Roberts

 

Your information access request – F18/9851/SJ

 

Thank you for your email dated 19 November asking for information in
relation to the overseas doctors applications onto the GMC register and
information about Dr Zholia Alemi’s patients. I’ve considered your request
under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA).

 

We recently became aware that Zholia Alemi used a fraudulent qualification
to join the medical register in 1995 and worked as a doctor until June
2017.

 

As soon as we became aware that she used a fraudulent qualification to
join the register, we contacted the police and other organisations
responsible for healthcare services 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.

 

Alemi joined the register 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 (PLAB). We
have started an immediate review of all the doctors who joined the
register via this route, and who are still licensed to practise in the UK.
We will be re-checking 3,000 doctors’ records. It is important to stress
that there is nothing to suggest other doctors who took this route are
anything but honest and hard-working, but it is important that we carry
out checks in light of this.

 

We are confident that, 23 years on, our systems are robust and would
identify any fraudulent attempt to join the medical register. Our
processes are far stronger now, with rigorous testing in place to ensure
those joining the register are fit to work in the UK.

 

The current process for all international medical graduates (IMGs) seeking
to register with the GMC is that they are required to have their identity
and primary medical qualification(s) independently verified before their
application is completed. For most IMGs this is their primary medical
qualification, but for those seeking to rely on possession of an
acceptable postgraduate qualification as evidence, the qualification must
be verified as part of the process.

 

The GMC uses an external partner to carry out this verification, the
Educational Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates (ECFMG). All
applicants are required to create an online account with ECFMG, and to
undergo an identity verification process. They then upload the documents
they are seeking to rely on to ECFMGs system. ECFMG verify the
qualifications directly with the relevant awarding body and send the
outcome of this verification direct to the GMC electronically. Only once a
successful outcome notification has been received from ECFMG is the
application allowed to proceed.

 

In addition the GMC carries out an additional face to face identity
verification checks with all IMGs prior to their application being granted
at our London or Manchester offices, where identity documents are
physically inspected and subject to rigorous testing. This provides a
further layer of assurance that the person seeking registration is indeed
the individual who we have verified was awarded the relevant
qualification(s).

 

Information about ECFMG can be found on their website
[1]https://www.ecfmg.org/ and the relevant sections of our website
guidance to doctors can be found here
[2]https://www.gmc-uk.org/registration-and-...

 

In relation to your second query, the GMC don’t hold information regarding
all of Dr Alemi’s patients.

 

I hope that you will find this information useful. If you have any further
queries, please contact me on the details below.

 

Yours sincerely

Sadie Jones

Information Access Officer

[3][email address]

0161 250 6889

 

General Medical Council

3 Hardman Street

Manchester

M3 3AW

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

show quoted sections

J Roberts left an annotation ()

She's in the news again. Suspected fraud:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

'A woman who pretended to be a psychiatrist prescribed medication to 164 patients at one mental health trust, it has been revealed today.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article...

J Roberts left an annotation ()

GMC:

https://www.gmc-uk.org/news/news-archive...

Question:

'Were any complaints made about Zholia Alemi during the time she was practising?'

Answer:

'We received nine complaints during the 23 years that she was on the medical register and all were investigated fully.

At the time we became aware that her qualifications were fraudulent she was already suspended from our register.'

J Roberts left an annotation ()

Independent 28/2/23

'Zholia Alemi was jailed for seven years on Tuesday after being found guilty of using a forged medical degree certificate to get a number of NHS jobs over a period of more than 20 years.'

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cr...