A teenage girl who worked for a year at a hospital claiming to be a qualified doctor has been arrested by police as more details of her elaborate con come to light.
Suspect Ayse Ozkiraz – now 20 – worked at the state-run hospital in Tekirdag Province, Turkey, around 68 miles from Istanbul, simply by claiming to have a certificate from Istanbul University’s Capa Medical School.
Local media report that the only qualification she had was a high school leaving certificate, and that she had woven an elaborate web of lies that conned a large number of people, including friends and her fiance.
He said that when he went with her to the hospital where she worked as a paediatric doctor, it seemed as if everybody there liked her very much.
She told prosecutors that the lie had started when she claimed to her parents that she had been accepted and eventually passed with top honours at the medical school.
She then managed to get money from her dad for the medical books and study costs, and even at one point, took her fiance to a reunion at the place she claimed to have studied.
He said: “I was surprised when I got there to the reunion because she did not seem to know anybody, but she took selfies with absolutely everyone.”
The elaborate fraud also included sending herself bunches of flowers at the hospital such as those included in one photograph that came with the message: “Pride of CAPA, we love you. Happy birthday Dr Aysem.”
In truth, she had been rejected and had not even managed to get through the entrance exam. It appears that she had turned up at the hospital claiming to be a paediatric doctor and wanted to do some volunteer work, and it had been allowed.
She admitted to cops: “When I was a high school student, my parents wanted me to study in a medical school.
“They thought I would get a high score. But I did not get a good enough score to get into medical school.”
Police were called after suspicious colleagues confronted her and asked her simple medical questions that she was unable to answer.
Police officers who raided her property found several fake ID cards, fake diplomas and IDs that appeared to belong to various hospitals where she claimed to have worked, as well as surgical clothes.
She was arrested for the charges of falsely claiming to be qualified to practice medicine and offer medical services.
After her arrest, she claimed that she had avoided treating any patients and only told her colleagues that she wanted to be a paediatric surgeon, and had not actually carried out the duties however, in at least one case, she is known to have taken part in operation which included stitching up the patient.
