Transcript - Dr Michael Gannon - ABC News24 - Doctor registration; vaccination

KATHRYN ROBINSON: The New South Wales Health Department is defending recruitment practices after it emerged a man had been posing as a doctor for 11 years. Shyam Acharya is on the run from Australian Federal Police after being accused of stealing a doctor's name and qualifications in India before moving to Australia and becoming a citizen. He worked at Manly, Hornsby, Wyong, and Gosford hospitals from 2003 until 2014 under the name Sarang Chitale, with only one complaint ever registered. He faces a $30,000 fine if convicted of breaching Australian health laws.

For more on this we are joined by the Australian Medical Association President, Michael Gannon, from Perth. Michael, good to see you today.

MICHAEL GANNON: Good morning.

KATHRYN ROBINSON: What sort of responsibilities did this phoney doctor have?

MICHAEL GANNON: My understanding is that they were working as a junior doctor under supervision, but that gives me no comfort at all. It's absolutely incumbent on the Medical Board to check someone's qualifications, and it's absolutely incumbent on Area Health Services to do the appropriate checks to make sure that someone is who they say they are.

KATHRYN ROBINSON: This happened over 11 years, since the early 2000s. What sort of systems are in place since then to stop this from happening again?

MICHAEL GANNON: Well, certainly, it's the case that for doctors trained locally, the identity checks, it is a whole lot easier. It’s a difficult job for the Medical Board and other authorities. There’s literally thousands of medical schools around the world, and it’s actually difficult to produce these checks. But it's absolutely essential that Australian patients are protected, and that they need to develop the appropriate mechanisms to vet the qualifications of doctors that arrive from other countries. It's been too easy for the public hospital system to fill vacancies with doctors coming from overseas. They need to make greater efforts to make sure that people say who they are.

KATHRYN ROBINSON: What sort of efforts are you suggesting should be happening that might not be? You say it’s difficult to check overseas doctors coming here, but simply picking up a phone call would be a good start?

MICHAEL GANNON: I think that there are some allegations here that there might have been some form of identity theft. I know that the job of the Medical Board of Australia is actually very difficult, with literally tens of thousands of medical schools and specialist colleges around the world. So it is difficult, but that doesn't mean that they don't need to do their job. It’s absolutely essential that any patient in any clinic or hospital or any healthcare setting in Australia today can take comfort from the fact that a doctor looking after them has been appropriately trained.

KATHRYN ROBINSON: How confident are you that there aren't other phoney doctors masquerading around as legitimate doctors in Australian hospitals currently?