Nicholas Chia Wei Chu was released on parole from John Morony Correctional Centre on Thursday afternoon, soon after being sentenced for a string of crimes.
Chu, 28, admitted taking covert photos and videos of 11 patients, including a 14-year-old, at Orange Health Service in central west NSW between January 2022 and February 2023.
He also took videos of many colleagues by secretly positioning his mobile phone in a hospital change room, as well as filming friends naked in their bathrooms and bedrooms in Orange and Sydney.
Chu was sentenced in the NSW District Court to a maximum term of one year in jail for producing child abuse material related to 21 intimate images of the teenage patient.
Judge Penny Musgrave handed Chu a six-month non-parole period, allowing him to immediately walk out of jail with time already served.
But Chu is not a free man as he serves a two-year Intensive Correction Order with 480 hours of community service for the remainder of charges related to adult victims.
Western NSW Local Health District issued an apology to Chu's victims, saying those who were identified by police were offered counselling.
"We sincerely apologise for the distress and ongoing impact that these actions by one individual has had on victims," the statement said.
Chu's medical registration has been suspended.
In a hand-written letter tendered to court, Chu also apologised.
"I harmed them when I was supposed to help them," Chu wrote in the letter, released by the court on Monday.
"I abused my responsibilities as a doctor and I did so serially.
"I've caused my patients to suffer by my selfish and wicked actions."
He also acknowledged eroding public trust in the health profession and devaluing the work of his colleagues.
Chu, who moved from Malaysia to study medicine in Sydney in 2016, wrote that his father and aunt spent their life savings on his university education.
"I recognise what an irresponsible son and nephew I have been, one who squandered all the hard-earned opportunities for a better life."
In the document written from Junee prison, where he worked as a sweep, Chu said that while he took full responsibility for his crimes, he understood the origins of his offending.
Through 28 sessions with a psychologist, he learned his mother's abandonment of him as a child led to an "anxious-insecure attachment style".
He was diagnosed as a voyeur, with his brain "misrepresenting" lewd images as emotional intimacy.
Chu said he was grateful to police for stopping his offending, which had "spiralled out of control".
"I will work hard and persevere through the challenges to become a better man each day," he wrote.
Under court orders, Chu is banned from working unsupervised with anyone, cannot enter the Orange region and must allow police access to his electronic devices.
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