Fake doctors: Minister appoints troika to investigate lapses in supervision

Esa Laiho

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Minister of Social Services Maria Guzenina-Richardson (SDP) has appointed a team of three experts to investigate reports of people working as doctors without the necessary qualifications.
      Former Parliamentary ombudsmen Jacob Söderman and Riitta-Leena Paunio as well as the elder of the medical community, Archiatre Risto Pelkonen are to look into the activities of the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health (VALVIRA) and other authorities.
     
The head of the troika, Jacob Söderman, already has a working hypothesis. He believes that fake doctors have slipped through the cracks because of the massive changes in the field of health care in Finland.
      “Administrative practices have been undergoing constant changes, and at the same time, the situation in the field has become rapidly more commercial. There have been many new players, and supervision has become more difficult”, Söderman ponders.
      “Now is not a time for oversensitivity. The trust felt by Finns has taken some hits, and the working methods of the officials require a change”, Guzenina-Richardson says.
     
In addition to fake doctors there are fears that unqualified personnel might be working as nurses as well.
      VALVIRA said on Wednesday that it was investigating its first possible case of a fake nurse. Experts suspect that there may prove to be more bogus nurses than doctors.
      “Unfortunately this might be true”, says Jaana Laitinen-Pesola, chairwoman of the health care professionals’ union TEHY.
     
“I would guess that there are more cases among nurses than doctors. A fake doctor could not cope for many minutes in an operating room, but it might be easier to handle the tasks of a nurse”, says Heikki Pälve, executive director of the Finnish Medical Association.
      Laitinen-Pesola echoes the views of Jacob Söderman about the splintering of the medical field.
      “The shortage of doctors and nurses has probably led to lapses in recruitment, and as we are living in a culture of short-term gigs, less attention is paid than before to the work of others.”
     
In the case of suspected bogus doctor Esa Laiho, several nurses pointed out aspects of Laiho’s working methods with no action being taken.
      “In this case the observations of nurses were clearly not taken seriously enough. But I have not heard that this would be a more common phenomenon”, Laitinen-Pesola says.
      Pälve suggests the establishment of a system of notification to better identify when there are suspicions that someone is not up to his or her task.
     
The work of Söderman’s group will not affect the ongoing investigations of current suspected cases of unlicensed practice of medicine, or the investigations of VALVIRA. The troika is to complete its work in the spring, in advance of planning for the 2013 budget.
      “All significant reforms often take place after scandals”, Söderman pointed out on Wednesday.
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Authorities to investigate hundreds of medical degrees from abroad (16.11.2011)
  Daughter of deceased patient of suspected bogus doctor files complaint (11.11.2011)
  Fake doctor may have treated thousands of patients in Southern Finland (10.11.2011)

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