Fake doctor exposed after 20 years

Officers from the Metropolitan Police Bureau question a former navy officer at a clinic in Ratchathewi district of Bangkok on Friday evening after finding he had no medical licence. (Photo: Metropolitan Police Bureau IDMB Facebook)
Officers from the Metropolitan Police Bureau question a former navy officer at a clinic in Ratchathewi district of Bangkok on Friday evening after finding he had no medical licence. (Photo: Metropolitan Police Bureau IDMB Facebook)

A 55-year-old former navy officer has been arrested in Bangkok on charges of practising medicine for 20 years without a medical licence.

The doctor, identified only as Thanaboon, 55, was arrested at a clinic in Phetchaburi Soi 31 in Ratchathewi district on Friday, police said.

The arrest followed a complaint from a local resident about a group of “fake doctors” providing abortion services at clinics on Phetchaburi Road.

When officers visited the clinic, Mr Thanaboon claimed he had a medical licence, but the officers could not find his information in the online database of the Medical Council of Thailand.

Mr Thanaboon finally admitted he had been practising without a licence since 2004. He had been operating the clinic on Phetchaburi Soi 31 for more than 10 years.

The patient rooms on the upper floors of the clinic were found to be in poor condition

Mr Thanaboon said he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in nursing and midwifery in 1989 before becoming an officer with the navy medical corps at a hospital in Sattahip district of Chon Buri.

He wanted to increase his income so he started taking side jobs as an unlicensed doctor at medical clinics in 2004, he said.

Vocabulary

  • abortion: a medical operation in which a developing baby is removed from a woman’s body so that it is not born alive - การทำแท้ง
  • admitted (verb): agreed that something is true, especially when you are unhappy, sorry or surprised about it - ยอมรับ
  • clinic: a place where a person goes to receive medical treatment -
  • complaint: when someone says that something is wrong or not satisfactory - การบ่น, ข้อที่ไม่พอใจ
  • condition: the physical state of a person or animal, especially how healthy they are - อาการ, สุขภาพ
  • expose: to make something or someone publicly known because you believe something illegal or dishonest has happened - เปิดเผยออกมา
  • fake: made to look like something real in order to trick people - ที่ทำปลอม
  • licence: an official document that gives someone permission to do or use something - ใบอนุญาต
  • midwife: a nurse whose job is to look after women when they are giving birth to a baby - นางพยาบาลผดุงครรภ์
  • patient: someone who is receiving medical treatment - คนป่วย, คนไข้
  • poor: low quality -
  • practise (verb): to work as a doctor, lawyer, etc. -
  • resident: a person who lives in a particular area - ผู้ที่อาศัยในท้องที่

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