FIFO cosmetic surgery: Beauty clinic owner’s death in botched boob job exposes dangers
FOREIGNERS with only basic medical qualifications masquaurading as doctors are flying into Sydney on tourist visas every week to perform cheap, illegal and dangerous cosmetic surgery.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
FOREIGNERS with only basic medical qualifications masquaurading as doctors are flying into Sydney on tourist visas every week to perform cheap, illegal and dangerous cosmetic surgery before quickly leaving the country.
At least 12 Sydney “beauty clinics” are employing illegal workers to do eye lid, fat transfer and breast surgery in areas including Burwood, Haymarket, Hurstville and Ultimo.
The surgeries are done by “FIFO” — Fly In Fly Out — foreign nationals who may have some type of nursing or simple beauty therapy treatment experience or are, at best, doctors who qualified outside of Australia and whose experience is unknown and not formally recognised.
Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery president Dr Ron Bezic and the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) said the practice is common.
“We have heard of these operations being done within certain ethnic groups, where overseas people come in and are essentially fly-in fly-out workers,” Dr Bezic said.
“It mainly relates to Chinese, Korean and some Arabic people. It’s more common than what you realise.”
Dr Bezic said much of the clinics’ business is being conducted on Chinse-speaking messaging platforms like WeChat and Weibo making it difficult for English-speaking authorities to police.
Thirty-five-year-old Jean Huang died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a botched procedure at the Medi Beauty clinic in Chippendale on September 30.
Chinese tourist Jie Shao, 33, has been charged with manslaughter after allegedly giving Ms Huang painkillers tramadol and lidocaine before injecting breast fillers.
Shao, who claims to have a completed a five-year dermatological degree at the Guangdong Medical University in China, had been in the country four days.
RELATED: JIE SHAO CHARGED WITH MANSLAUGHTER
RELATED: SECOND WOMAN CHARGED OVER BOTCHED BOOB JOB DEATH
Asked about FIFO cosmetic surgery, a NSW HCCC spokesman said: “From time to time, the commission receives complaints of this nature and the response depends on the nature of the issues raised (whether it be treatment, medication or infection control, for example).
“The Commission often works closely with its regulatory partners in these types of complaints.”
A cosmetic surgeon who worked at a similar clinic to Medi Beauty said the practice is routine.
“I know of at least five so-called clinics in Sydney which employ unqualified doctors to come from overseas on tourist visas to perform breast procedures at bargain prices,” he said.
“There are at least 12 clinics doing a wider range of procedures.
“These clinics don’t have doctors present so if the surgery goes wrong, or there is a problem with the sedation, you’re screwed.”
A 22-year-old Chinese student this week told The Sunday Telegraph of a nightmare experience at a so-called beauty clinic in Haymarket.
She went to the one bedroom apartment on September 1 to get water injections in her face, but fled when she smelled food, saw a cockroach and was asked no questions before the administration of local anaesthetic.
She told friends of the experience and when she later asked the operator for their qualifications was threatened over the Chinese messaging service WeChat. .
“They told me they would put me on an escort agency website, get me deported and then accused my parents of being criminals,” she said.
“When I asked for their qualifications, they only sent me a nurse registration. She claimed she was a doctor.
“I can’t explain how afraid and upsetting this is.”
The woman is a client of Sydney cosmetic surgeon Dr Zion Chan.
Dr Chan this week submitted a complaint to the Health Care Complaints Commission and NSW Police on her behalf.
Dr Chan estimates there are at least five illegal cosmetic surgeries in the Sydney CBD alone.
“As a doctor of 17 years, I have grave concerns for the cosmetic industry which is rampant with illegal practitioners, injecting prescribed medications at unlicensed facilities without any doctor supervision,” he said.
“A year ago I predicted that there would be a death, and of course, then there was the tragedy at Chippendale.
“Cosmetic clinics are long overdue for regulation. The scope of illegal activity — and patients being treated with a prescribed medication without the appropriate medical license — will cause harm to patients and also death.”
An Australian College of Cosmetic Sugery spokeswoman said while the regulations are good, those rules are not properly enforced.
Other industry figures said enforcement can be difficult because patients are operated outside of hospital.
‘It’s a day of celebration’: Shock remarks at western Sydney rally
There’s a massive police presence across Sydney as evening gatherings on the grim anniversary of Hamas attacks get under way. At Lakemba Mosque, hundreds have massed as a police chopper flies overhead.
Read more
‘So, so devastating’: Mainstay deli shuts after 70 years
The closure of an iconic southwest Sydney deli has prompted its legion of customers to express how the institution – treasured like the Opera House – meant more than prosciutto and panini.
Read more