Blood lab medical tech Sejal Rao loses registration for CV fraud
Rao was eventually caught out by an audit of the NZ Blood Service's online reference checking system, which flagged discrepancies in her application and an investigation followed.
Rao then blamed her mother who she said had helped her apply for the job, among a number of responses to the allegations.
The allegation against her mother formed part of one of the three comprehensive charges against Rao.
The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal found that her attempt to deflect blame on her mother was 'grossly dishonest'.
Failed to disclose false information
In June 2023, the Professional Conduct Committee appointed by the Medical Sciences Council laid three disciplinary charges against Rao for professional misconduct.
The charges were linked to her use of false information when applying for provisional registration with the council and failing to disclose that it was fraudulent.
When she applied for the lab technician job, she didn't say she had used the false information to gain registration.
The tribunal found earlier this year that the charges against Rao were proved.
Her registration has now been cancelled, she has been censured and ordered to pay $13,000 towards the costs of the disciplinary process.
Rao had earlier admitted that some aspects of her CV were false or misleading, notably that she did not attend medical school at the University of Melbourne and had not studied for a medical degree.
She does, however, hold a science degree, with a major in biomedical science, after she graduated from the University of Auckland in October 2020.
The tribunal said the extent of Rao's fabrication was 'somewhat inexplicable' as she was, in fact, suitably qualified to be employed as a medical lab technician, yet she kept on embellishing her CV.
Fabricated documents and fake email addresses
An extensive 33-page summary of facts from December 2023 showed that Rao had applied for a position as a medical lab technician at the blood service before her provisional registration in June 2021.
Having accepted the offer of employment, Rao then applied to the Medical Sciences Council for provisional registration as a lab technician.
Under the heading 'Academic Profile' in her CV, Rao claimed to be a Doctor of Medicine at the University of Melbourne from 2020-2022.
She also falsely claimed she was studying at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), for a Doctor of Medicine qualification.
The tribunal said it seemed to reference te reo Māori, 'te tangata' – the people, and 'rather oddly' was referred to as part of a tutoring programme at the Australian University.
'The tutoring programme did not exist. Therefore, she had never been a te tangata tutor,' the tribunal said.
The email addresses Rao provided for a professor and a doctor as referees were not valid email accounts used by those individuals, but email accounts created by her.
A named referee, 'Cassidy Lawrence', was not a real person, and the email account was a fabrication, the tribunal said.
There was further fraudulent information regarding an academic transcript from the University of Tasmania and a forged signature for a Certificate of Standing from an unnamed doctor.
Rao also supplied a fabricated document from UCLA purporting to offer her a scholarship to the university.
Caught by reference check audit
The fraud was detected during an audit in mid-2022 of the blood service's online reference checking system, which issued a warning message. It flagged Rao, and a doctor and a professor she had named as referees, as having all used the same IP address to submit information for her job application in June 2021.
Rao was suspended from her job in June 2022, pending the final outcome of the employment investigation. A month later, she was summarily dismissed.
The tribunal considered that Rao's conduct was malpractice rather than negligence because it was 'intentionally dishonest and highly unethical'.
It said her 'elaborate and deliberate pattern of behaviour' was a serious breach of the Code of Ethical Conduct.
In her favour was her relative youth, and her self-proclaimed immaturity.
She claimed mental distress in her life as matters underpinning her conduct.
The tribunal acknowledged her co-operation with the investigation and the process that followed.
It would be for the Medical Sciences Council to consider if Rao was fit to practise, should she reapply for registration.
NZME has attempted to reach Rao via a social media channel.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NZ Herald
6 days ago
- NZ Herald
Privacy commissioner inquiry finds supermarket facial recognition tech's use is justified
'These issues become particularly critical when people need to access essential services such as supermarkets. FRT [facial recognition technology] will only be acceptable if the use is necessary and the privacy risks are successfully managed,' Webster said. The Foodstuffs trial ended last September and ran in 25 supermarkets. The commissioner found the live technology model used in the trial was compliant with the Privacy Act. About 226 million faces were scanned during the trial, including multiple scans of the same person, and 99.999% of those were deleted within one minute. The trial raised 1742 alerts, 1208 were confirmed matches to store watchlists – databases made from images of people of interest to a store. In December 2024, a woman took her case to the Human Rights Review Tribunal after she was wrongly kicked out of a Rotorua supermarket, claiming the technology was discriminatory. There were nine instances of someone being approached by staff, but misidentified as the wrong person during the trial. In two cases, the shopper was asked to leave. All nine instances were attributable to human error, and were outweighed by the benefits of using facial recognition, justifying its use. The inquiry found while the level of intrusion to customers' privacy was high because every visitor's face was collected, the safeguards used in the trial reduced the intrusion to an acceptable level. Webster said there was still work needed to improve the safety and efficiency of facial recognition software for New Zealand, as it had been developed overseas and not trained on a local population. He said the commission could not be completely confident the technology had addressed issues on technical bias, and that it had the potential to negatively impact Māori and Pacific people. 'This means the technology must only be used with the right processes in place, including human checks that an alert is accurate before acting on it. 'I also expect that Foodstuffs North Island will put in place monitoring and review to allow it to evaluate the impact of skin tone on identification accuracy and store response, and to provide confidence to the regulator and customers that key privacy safeguards remain in place,' Webster said. The safeguards included immediately deleting images that did not match with a store's watchlist, setting up the system to only identify those whose behaviour was seriously harmful, like violent offending, not allowing staff to add images of people under 18 or those thought to be vulnerable to the watchlist and not sharing watchlist information between stores. Match alerts were verified by two trained staff members to make sure a human decision was part of the process, the inquiry report said, and access to the facial recognition system and its information was restricted to authorised staff. Images collected were not permitted to be used for training data purposes, the report said. Foodstuffs responds General counsel for Foodstuffs North Island Julian Benefield said the goal behind the FRT trial was to understand whether it could reduce harm while respecting people's privacy, saying it had succeeded in doing so. 'Retail crime remains a serious and complex problem across New Zealand,' he said. 'Our people continue to be assaulted, threatened and verbally abused, and we're committed to doing all we can to create safer retail environments.' Benefield said privacy was at the heart of the trial. He said an independent evaluator found the trial prevented more than 100 cases of serious harm, including assaults. 'We have worked closely with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner and listened to their feedback. 'We welcome the OPC's feedback on areas for improvement and will carefully consider their recommendations, including the need to monitor accuracy, before we make any decisions about future permanent use.' Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said the trial showed the technology had made a measurable impact in reducing harm and improving safety in stores. She said retailers across the country had been watching the trial with interest and a number were investigating FRT for their own operations in the near future. 'Retailers are crying out for proactive solutions that prevent crime and enhance the safety of their staff and customers. Our members continue to face high rates of violence and crime, putting both their employees and the public at risk, as well as threatening the financial sustainability of retail businesses.' - RNZ
NZ Herald
01-06-2025
- NZ Herald
Hikoi to lift tapu off Kaikohe following child death - Shane Jones calls out Ngāpuhi's silence
The Kaikohe community is in a stunned silence following the violent death of three-year-old Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene. The violent death of Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene has sparked a call for Kaikohe locals and Māori to stand up and take control of their community. A 45-year-old man has been charged with three-year-old Catalya's murder and appeared in the Kaikohe District Court last week. Ngāpuhi
Otago Daily Times
30-05-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Huge haul of West Coast pounamu recovered
A large amount of pounamu stolen from a West Coast river has been recovered, police say. Inspector Tracey Wharehoka said she was notified by Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio, representing the local hapū Ngāi Māhaki in South Westland, on Wednesday that a vehicle had been seen heading up the Jackson River by a member of the public, and it appeared the occupants were collecting pounamu. Pounamu (greenstone) is important to Māori culture and the stone is considered to be a taonga, or treasure. Public fossicking for it is only allowed on beaches, police said in a statement tonight. Rivers are able to be prospected by Ngāi Tahu members, but only with a permit from their local hapū to do so legally, which the people linked to the vehicle and trailer did not have. Officers from Franz Joseph were quickly sent to find the vehicle on Wednesday and recovered 365 pieces and boulders of pounamu. The matter will be investigated and through the resolution process the pounamu will be returned to the hapū. Insp Wharehoka said police take pride in working with local hapū, and the theft of pounamu is treated with the same value and mindset that would be taken with other stolen property. "We are pleased we were able to move quickly and intercept these alleged thieves in the act. "People are often under the impression that because some of these West Coast locations are remote, no one else is watching. This incident proves that is simply not true, and our tight-knit community have their eyes and ears switched on for any unusual activity." Te Rūnanga o Makaawhio chairman, Paul Madgwick, said the iwi was thankful for the swift response, as there had been an ongoing problem with theft of their taonga, especially in remote areas. "While the Vesting Act confirms that all pounamu is owned by Ngāi Tahu, our respective pounamu management plans provide an opportunity for the public to fossick freely on the beaches, and also recognise the right of Ngāi Tahu members to collect pounamu themselves, within boundaries. "Anyone who is unsure of the rules around pounamu gathering, or has pounamu in their possession and is unclear about ownership, whether they're the general public or Ngāi Tahu whanau, is urged to reach out to the local Rūnanga to understand what is permissible." Insp Wharehoka said the protection and recovery of pounamu was just as much about education and knowledge as it was about detection and enforcement. Two men aged in their 30s were spoken to at the time of the incident. Police are investigating and charges were being considered. "We will continue to work with local iwi and those involved for the best action and outcome for all," Insp Wharehoka said. - APL
