Unlicensed Doctors In El Paso?

With the recent arrest of a woman accused of practicing dentistry out of her home and without a license, ABC-7 wanted to know if this is something concerning El Paso’s medical community.

Dr. Raj Marwah, a member of the El Paso Medical Society, said it is something that has been brought up at meetings of the society and he said it is troubling.

Marwah said physicians and health care providers are moving to the Sun City from Mexico in an effort to escape the drug violence.

But some, he added, are not going through the proper channels to set up their practices.

“It is happening,” Marwah told ABC-7.

Marwah said he realizes the gravity of the situation across the border, but said that is no license for anyone to practice in the U.S. without a license.

“I am very sympathetic to what’s going on in Juarez,” he said. “But to open the borders and have physicians come here without going through the process, it’s an issue.”

It may also be issue that is not unique to those headed in from Mexico.

Horizon City woman Edith Castaneda, 38, was arrested earlier this month and accused of practicing dentistry out of her home. Investigators said Castaneda even administered anesthesia and gave out medication, all without a license.

Marwah said given the borderland?s shortage of physicians, he welcomes new doctors and dentists to El Paso as long as they are licensed.