| Cosmetic surgery advertising code comes under fire |
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| Thursday, 22 February 2007 | |
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"It is our objective to raise standards in the cosmetic surgery field, including advertising," said ACCS president, Dr Michael Zacharia. "We wish that other practitioners and associations will also adopt stricter advertising regulations." The move was criticised, however, by Health Services Commissioner for the State of Victoria, Beth Wilson, who said that some of the worst examples of deceptive and misleading practice in the industry were from the college's own members. Ms Wilson's office is said to have received several complaints about ACCS members. Most of these complaints were about botched surgery, but several complainants were patients who had been duped by "before and after" pictures and by doctors promising unrealistic outcomes and downplaying the risks associated with cosmetic surgery. The president of the Australian Medical Association, Mukesh Haikerwal, also expressed concern that the ACCS members could be confusing potential patients by overplaying their surgical credentials. The ACCS claims that it is "the only professional organisation in Australia" providing training and accreditation in cosmetic medicine. But the Australian Medical Council is the only independent national standards body for medical education and training, and it has yet to grant accreditation to the courses of the ACCS. "Those claims are disrespectful of the skills and expertise of other medical professionals with qualifications registered by the AMC," Dr Haikerwal said. "I think once they have AMC approval they can have their place in the sun, but until that time the qualifications the ACCS offer have no real standing in medical parlance." Whereas members of ACCS require no specialist training after basic medical school, members of the Australian Society of Plastic Surgeons receive an additional eight to ten years of AMC-accredited extra training after their basic medical degree. |
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