URGENT background checks are being carried out on 3,000 foreign doctors after a fraudster was allowed to work as an NHS psychiatrist for 22 years.

Zholia Alemi, 56, falsely claimed she had a degree from New Zealand’s University of Auckland to land the job.

The cheat came to Britain in 1992 when doctors from some Commonwealth countries could get NHS work by presenting their qualifications. But she dropped out of medical school in her first year.

The General Medical Council failed to root out her bogus credentials and she joined the medical register in 1995, working in the West Midlands. She could have earned up to £100,000 a year.

Alemi was caught only after trying to fake an OAP’s will to steal £1.3million. She got five years’ jail last month.

The GMC said it had since launched an “urgent” investigation into about 3,000 NHS doctorsfrom Commonwealth countries.

It will centre on those who arrived before tighter checks were introduced in 2003.

Chief Charlie Massey said: “In this case the steps taken in the 1990s were inadequate.

“We’re confident that, 23 years on, our systems are robust and would identify any fraudulent attempt to join the register.