Patients will continue to be at risk in unregulated Australian beauty clinics if appropriate rules are not put in place for sedation, the head of an anaesthetists' professional organisation says.
Professor David A Scott says cardiac arrests and severe toxic reactions have been occurring at clinics for the past few years and "until we have appropriate regulations in place they will continue to occur".
The president of the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) has written to NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard seeking a meeting to discuss safe sedation, after a woman went into cardiac arrest during a breast procedure at a Sydney beauty clinic on Wednesday.
Jean Huang, 35, died on Friday after she was allegedly administered a local anaesthetic and breast fillers by Chinese tourist Jie Shao, 33, who was not registered in Australia.
Shao has been charged with causing grievous bodily harm and using poison to endanger a person's life, and police are considering further legal action following Ms Huang's death.
Prof Scott told AAP he wanted to speak with all Australian health ministers about introducing an agreed set of safe standards and guidelines across the country.
He said different states had different processes to determine which facilities should be appropriately credited.
The college wants clear guidelines to ensure that whenever a procedure requires intravenous sedation or significant amounts of local anaesthetic, it is done in a registered, licensed facility.
Mr Hazzard said he hadn't yet seen Prof Scott's letter but would meet with ANZCA.
"I am appalled that these circumstances could have occurred at all, but I have to be very careful about what I say as health minister because there are now criminal charges," he told AAP on Friday.
"On the broader issue of procedures being carried out in a non-regulated clinic, there would appear to be some very complex issues which I've asked the Department of Health to review."
The head of the Australasian Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, Dr Mark Magnusson, said patients should always confirm a facility's accreditation and practitioners' qualifications.
"These should be on display," he said in a statement.
"This includes those providing the treatment and anyone assisting, especially with intravenous medication or anaesthesia."
In an unrelated case last year, patients of another unregistered practitioner in Sydney were last year told they could be infected with blood-borne viruses after receiving cosmetic treatments.
NSW Health in 2016 warned people who received treatments by Pu Liu, or Mabel Liu, in her Five Dock apartment to see their GP for blood tests after she allegedly used injectable drugs not approved for use in Australia.
The Health Care Complaints Commission later banned her for three years from providing any cosmetic medical or surgical services.
Share
