A South Auckland homeopath has been warned about his use of the title 'doctor", after concerns were raised online.
A New Zealand Reddit user posted online in July raising concerns about the advertising being used by 'Dr Preet' - whose real name is Raghubir Singh Rehan - outside his practice on Great South Road in Papatoetoe.
Mr Rehan's business, Universal Homeopathic NZ, had a footpath sign outside with "doctor open" written in large font, and "homeopathic" written above, in a much smaller font.
On his website, Mr Rehan had been advertising himself as "a qualified homeopathic consultant and well known doctor", but after being contacted by 1 NEWS, he updated that to "well known homeopath".
Mr Rehan told 1 NEWS that in India, homeopaths are treated as doctors, and those who are qualified as one are able to use the title freely.
"Everyone in the homeopathic practice - everyone is titled as a doctor because we graduated as a doctor," Mr Rehan said.
Mr Rehan holds a D.H.M.S - a Diploma in Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery - with Honours, which is Level 7 - but in New Zealand, a Doctoral Degree is listed at Level 10.
Mr Rehan said he had adopted the name Dr Preet in New Zealand because his own name was too difficult for people to remember and pronounce.
Ministry of Health chief legal advisor Phil Knipe said in July that, under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (the HPCA Act), it is unlawful for an unqualified person to claim to be a health practitioner of a particular type if they are unqualified in that field.
"While persons often use the title 'Dr' or 'Doctor' to reflect their academic qualifications, they need to take care about how they use the title and not to state or do anything that is calculated to suggest that the person is a medical practitioner (unless they are registered and also hold a current practising certificate)," Mr Knipe said.
"The Ministry is concerned that the manner in which the title is used, including on Mr Preet's website, may be misleading and we will follow up with him."
This week, the Ministry confirmed they had undertaken an investigation of Mr Rehan's use of the title, and that no further action will be taken against him.
"Mr Rehan has taken steps to ensure compliance with the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, and to avoid any suggestion that he is practising, or willing to practice, as a medical practitioner," Mr Knipe said.
When contacted by 1 NEWS in July, then-President of the New Zealand Council of Homeopaths (NZCH) Laila Joffe said there were strict rules around homeopaths taking any action which could mislead people into thinking they are medical doctors.
"I will call Dr Preet myself ... he is a doctor in India, but if he is not registered with the Medical Council, because he is not a medical doctor, he may not [use the term 'doctor']," she said.
"What he is doing is violating the code of practice ... and he will have a disciplinary hearing - this is not OK."
However, the new President of the NZCH, Sue Fitzgibbon, contacted 1 NEWS some months later apologising for the comments made by Ms Joffe, saying they were incorrect.
Ms Fitzgibbon said the NZCH had also carried out its own internal investigation of Mr Rehan's use of the term "doctor" and had found he was within all NZCH guidelines.
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