Jun 16, 2010
S'porean fake doctor jailed
<!-- by line --> By Judith Tan
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A SINGAPOREAN man accused of using a forged degree to pass off as a doctor at an Australian hospital was sentenced to two years jail by the Northern Territory Supreme Court on Wednesday. Balaji Varatharaju, 29, was found guilty of six charges of criminal conduct, including two counts of obtaining benefit by a deception, using a fake document, possessing poison and making a false statement in a declaration.
The former Adelaide University student who had never completed a medical degree there, was employed as a doctor at the Alice Springs Hospital for nine months. He treated more than 400 patients while working in medicine, surgery and the emergency departments of the hospital.
The court heard Varatharaju also pleaded guilty to the aggravated assault of a patient during a medical procedure. ABC News, Australia's television news programme, reported that in meting the sentence, Justice Jenny Blokland said Balaji Varatharaju had breached the trust of patients and the medical board. She sentenced him to two years jail, suspended after 14 months.
