A 33-year-old man claiming to be a doctor has been arrested for illegally giving filler injections and other unlicensed services during a raid on a beauty clinic in Chatuchak district of Bangkok.
Police searched the Yongchang clinic located inside a hotel in the Lat Phrao area following a complaint that the clinic had hired unqualified staff to administer vitamin, Botox and filler injections to customers.
On arriving there, the officers found a man, identified later as Phimlaphas Phetkrachang, 33, administering injections into the face of a customer. He claimed to be a doctor.
However, checks found that the man had no medical practitioner’s licence and the clinic was also operating without a permit, said Pol Maj Gen Anan Nanasombat, commander of the Consumer Protection Police Division (CPPD).
Mr Phimlaphas was arrested and all medical products and equipment seized.
During questioning, Mr Phimlaphas admitted he studied mass communication, and not medicine, at a university. But after working as an assistant to doctors at a beauty clinic, he saw an opportunity to earn a high income.
He reportedly told police that he had been administering vitamin, filler and Botox injections at different clinics for five years, earning 20,000 to 40,000 baht a month. He had worked at the clinic for two months before being arrested.
Police said the man admitted to having administered filler injections on the foreheads of customers. Normally, doctors avoid this area because it is considered a high-risk point, with some blood vessels leading to the retina and the brain. An injection done by someone lacking expertise could lead to blindness, he claimed.
Police charged him with providing treatment without a practitioner's licence, selling medicines without permission and selling unregistered medical products. He was held in police custody pending further legal action.
Police question employees at the Yongchang beauty clinic in Chatuchak district of Bangkok. (Photo supplied/Wassayos Ngamkham)