Nurse caught stealing medical equipment and importing illegal skin-whitening chemical to remain in workplace

A nurse working night shift was caught stealing medical equipment and administering an illegal skin-whitening chemical to herself and another nurse while on duty.

Nurse Joanna Remandaban fronted VCAT after stealing cannulation equipment and importing an illegal chemical into Australia for skin-whitening.

A registered nurse stole medical equipment and imported an illegal skin-whitening chemical to use on herself and a friend.

Joanna Remandaban fronted VCAT in November, facing claims that she had stolen and misappropriated cannulation items from her employer and “obtained, supplied and administered a Glutanex-Drip” to herself and another nursing friend.

Glutanex-Drip is considered a Schedule 4 poison and illegal in Australia.

The Nursing and Midwifery Board brought two claims of professional misconduct against Remandaban after discovering her offending in 2019 while she was on night shift.

Joanna Remandaban was a registered nurse at the time of her offending. Picture: Burst

The tribunal heard Remandaban had first arranged with a colleague to import the product at a split cost from South Korea in 2019, each paying $340 on one occasion.

Over the following months, Remandaban and her friend assisted each other in administering the drip on a total of eight occasions.

Her theft was discovered after she left her handbag open in a handover room with the stolen items in clear view.

She was immediately stood down, and two weeks later her employment was terminated.

The tribunal heard she had imported the Glutanex-Drip into Australia without Therapeutic Goods Administration approval or a prescription.

Despite her actions, Remandaban asked for her suspension to be lifted in 2021, which was approved by the board in 2022, saying the length of her suspension had a “deterrent effect on Ms Remandaban”.

Remandaban was working night shift when the items were found in her handbag in the handover room.

The tribunal found that in relation to the theft, Remandaban had behaved in a way that violated the law and ethics of the board and could be characterised as professional misconduct.

In relation to the administration of the Glutanex-Drip to herself and her friend, the tribunal agreed her actions were “a substantial departure from proper and professional standards,” but not in the same category as the theft “in terms of moral and ethical culpability”.

The tribunal found that “no further suspension was necessary” for Remandaban, as the two-year suspension she had already served between 2019 and 2021 had “served as a strong deterrent impact on her”.

Remandaban will receive a permanent note on her record, however is free to pursue her career as a nurse in Australia.