Man allegedly posing as doctor worked in NSW hospitals for over a decade

A 'doctor' has been charged after he allegedly used another person's name and medical qualifications to become registered in NSW and practice for more than a decade.

File Source: AAP

However, it's not clear if Shyam Acharya will face court as his whereabouts are unknown.

Acharya allegedly obtained stolen and fraudulent documents while living in India and used them to gain registration with the Medical Board of NSW, NSW Health deputy secretary Karen Crawshaw said in a statement on Tuesday.

He worked in the NSW public health system - specifically at Manly, Hornsby, Wyong and Gosford hospitals - from 2003 to 2014, Ms Crawshaw said.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian acknowledged NSW Health must claim responsibility.

"There's no doubt there's a huge number of questions around his registration criteria, his qualifications, all those issues which I know now, many doctors whether they're from overseas or local, go through so many processes now to demonstrate their qualification. Clearly this didn't happen 11 years ago."

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She said since that time, more "stringent" guidelines had been introduced, but "the fact that it went on for 11 years adds to the surprise and shock that many people are feeling today".

"Clearly we need to make sure at a state level we've done everything we can," she said.

She said that the NSW health minister would raise the issue at the next COAG meeting to determine what went wrong and what needed improving to ensure that people posing as doctors could never practice.

However Ms Berejiklian added that the matter was also a federal one.

"This is really an issue about how this person got through our border protection system at a national level with fake passport ID and put himself up to be something he clearly isn't,” she said.

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"It's unacceptable that he entered our country with a fake passport, fake ID, got through the border protection system, and put himself up for something that he wasn't."

NSW Health would not say whether Mr Acharya had any medical experience before working in Australia.

Ms Crawshaw said Mr Acharya’s status as a junior doctor with limited registration meant he was subject to supervision.

She said Australia's Health Practitioner Regulation Agency advised NSW Health it was investigating Acharya in 2016 - more than two years after he left the state's public health system.

He has since been charged with a breach of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, and if convicted faces fines of up to $30,000.