At least 12 beauty clinics in Sydney are employing illegal foreigners to perform cheap and dangerous cosmetic surgeries.
Foreign workers with only basic medical qualifications are masquerading as doctors and flying into the country on tourist visas every week.
Beauty clinics are hiring the illegal workers to perform fat transfer, eye lid and breast surgeries in a practice the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission said is common.
The ‘Fly In, Fly Out’ nationals may hold some form of nursing or beauty therapy treatment experience, The Daily Telegraph reports.
The shocking news comes just over a week since 35-year-old Sydney woman, Jean Huang, died after suffering a cardiac arrest during a botched cosmetic breast operation.
Illegal foreign workers are flying into Sydney to perform cosmetic surgeries unlawfully (pictured: Sydney woman Jean Huang died from a botched boob job in September)
Jean Huang, a beauty clinic owner, died after suffering a cardiac arrest while undergoing a cosmetic breast surgery performed by a Chinese tourist
Ms Huang was given 10 times the amount of painkiller before her botched boob job
Ms Huang, who owned a beauty clinic in Chippendale, was allegedly given 10 times the normal dose of a painkiller before the operation.
The beauty clinic co-owner died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Friday afternoon.
The Chinese tourist allegedly responsible for the botched procedure, Jie Shao, 33, is behind bars and facing 20 years’ jail.
Australasian College of Cosmetic Surgery president Dr Ron Bezic told the Daily Telegraph that the illegal and dangerous operations are usually performed within certain ethnic groups.
Jie Shao, 33, the Chinese tourist allegedly responsible for the botched procedure, is behind bars and facing 20 years’ jail
The beauty clinic co-owner died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Friday afternoon
Jean Huang was taken to Royal Prince Alfred hospital where she died on Friday afternoon
‘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.’
Ms Shao, who has since been charged with manslaughter following the death of Ms Huang, had no licence to practise medicine in Australia and had allegedly been in the country for just four days.
Much of the business between clinics’ and the foreign workers is being conducted on Chinese-speaking messaging platforms like WeChat and Weibo, Dr Bezic said.
Sydney cosmetic surgeon Dr Zion Chan, a doctor for 17 years, said he had ‘grave concerns’ for the cosmetic industry.
Jean Huang died in Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on Friday after a botched breast procedure
‘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,’ Dr Chan said.
Due to the business conducted on Chinese-speaking messaging platforms, Australian authorities struggle to police the practise of hiring illegal workers for beauty clinics.
Jie Shao was a graduate of a Canton medical university and a specialist in dermatology who had practised in China and Great Britain, the Central Local Court heard on Tuesday.
She had arrived in Australia four or five days before the alleged offences with two Chinese passports because her tourist visa – which expires in November – was attached to her old passport.
Shao will remain behind bars and is due to return to court on October 31.
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