Browny Sloan ... made complaint. (Photo: Connie Levett)June 19, 2006
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)
Some patients in Phnom Penh want her back, writes Connie Levett, Herald Correspondent.
AS A doctor, Gloria Christie built up quite a following in Phnom Penh. The big, no-nonsense Australian was on call 24 hours a day, offering expatriates affordable health care, dispensing medicine and home-spun advice.
However, in March, the Cambodian Ministry of Health closed her Surya Clinic for operating without a licence. Then something more serious emerged: "Dr" Gloria didn't have a medical doctor's certificate either.
The exposure of Gloria Christie, 50, caused deep divisions among expatriates. An Australian woman, Bronwyn Sloan, who made a complaint after her daughter was misdiagnosed with a fractured skull, received a death threat and is no longer welcome at certain bars.
Gavin Scott, an English doctor who has been in Phnom Penh since 1992, said: "I had a patient misdiagnosed by Gloria with dengue fever who … had cerebral malaria. I said to him: 'I don't understand, why do people like you go to see a fake doctor'? He said 'I don't give a shit if she hasn't got a certificate. I am a teacher and all my certificates are fake'."
Dr Scott said the embassy knew about Ms Christie and did nothing, so he wrote a letter, seen by the Herald, to the embassy on April 12, 2004, warning that her qualifications were questionable.
The Australian ambassador to Cambodia, Lisa Filipetto, said the embassy "does not investigate the qualifications of Australians working overseas where they are not working for the Australian Government".
Ms Christie worked as a registered nurse in Queensland in the 1980s and, in the early '90s, she worked in remote Queensland Aboriginal communities.
"She is no MD, and never has been," said her son, David Christie, 22, of Melbourne. "She has no training as a diagnostician; she is a nurse. She reached the highest level you could as a nurse. She is a seriously intelligent woman."
Ms Christie moved to Phnom Penh eight years ago. "I think they assumed she was a doctor and she probably liked the idea."
At the Talking to a Stranger bar in Phnom Penh, friends organised a petition supporting Ms Christie and asking that the Surya Clinic "reopen as soon as possible". There were 60 signatures.
Last month Clinic Sokhapheap opened on 71st Street in central Phnom Penh, using the Surya Centre's equipment. A newspaper reported Ms Christie was at the new clinic, but had said by phone that she would not be practising.
AS A doctor, Gloria Christie built up quite a following in Phnom Penh. The big, no-nonsense Australian was on call 24 hours a day, offering expatriates affordable health care, dispensing medicine and home-spun advice.
However, in March, the Cambodian Ministry of Health closed her Surya Clinic for operating without a licence. Then something more serious emerged: "Dr" Gloria didn't have a medical doctor's certificate either.
The exposure of Gloria Christie, 50, caused deep divisions among expatriates. An Australian woman, Bronwyn Sloan, who made a complaint after her daughter was misdiagnosed with a fractured skull, received a death threat and is no longer welcome at certain bars.
Gavin Scott, an English doctor who has been in Phnom Penh since 1992, said: "I had a patient misdiagnosed by Gloria with dengue fever who … had cerebral malaria. I said to him: 'I don't understand, why do people like you go to see a fake doctor'? He said 'I don't give a shit if she hasn't got a certificate. I am a teacher and all my certificates are fake'."
Dr Scott said the embassy knew about Ms Christie and did nothing, so he wrote a letter, seen by the Herald, to the embassy on April 12, 2004, warning that her qualifications were questionable.
The Australian ambassador to Cambodia, Lisa Filipetto, said the embassy "does not investigate the qualifications of Australians working overseas where they are not working for the Australian Government".
Ms Christie worked as a registered nurse in Queensland in the 1980s and, in the early '90s, she worked in remote Queensland Aboriginal communities.
"She is no MD, and never has been," said her son, David Christie, 22, of Melbourne. "She has no training as a diagnostician; she is a nurse. She reached the highest level you could as a nurse. She is a seriously intelligent woman."
Ms Christie moved to Phnom Penh eight years ago. "I think they assumed she was a doctor and she probably liked the idea."
At the Talking to a Stranger bar in Phnom Penh, friends organised a petition supporting Ms Christie and asking that the Surya Clinic "reopen as soon as possible". There were 60 signatures.
Last month Clinic Sokhapheap opened on 71st Street in central Phnom Penh, using the Surya Centre's equipment. A newspaper reported Ms Christie was at the new clinic, but had said by phone that she would not be practising.
3 comments:
In a country with full of corruption, all the shit can happen all the time. In 1995, I heard that all pharmacists want to organise a registered Association to control fake drugs. But it was fails due to the smugglers of fake drugs were being protected by all powerfull polices and local government. It was even sad when the National tender of Medecine to Cambodian hospital was controled by HUn Sen. He has given the full right for 3 years for an importer DUONG CHIV ( not a pharmacist)to dealt this business then, he gave to Sok Kong ( a Vietnamese who cannot even speak Khmer properly, a vietnamese military expert) to dealt it.
I am so sorry because you are not yuon's nationality.
Please leave her alone! At least she is trying to help sick people! I wonder if she is willing to help those sick dirt poor Cambodian people with no money. I would be shocked if she is willing to help.
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