Health Ministry says Straits Times ‘misrepresented’ it in report

SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Health (MOH) has taken issue with a report in The Straits Times (ST) yesterday, saying that it was “misrepresented”.

“At no time did MOH say that there was ‘nothing wrong’ with the practice of the clinic concerned in this specific instance.

“These words were inserted by ST,” the ministry wrote on its Facebook page.

The broadsheet had reported that a 41-year-old woman paid S$80 for a visit to her neighbourhood clinic, which purportedly charged S$40 for each of her twin complaints of stomach pains and a sore throat.

MOH said yesterday that the ST journalist did not accede to its request for the name of the clinic involved and the patient’s bills so it could review the details of the case.

“As a result, MOH could only provide a general reply which explains what GPs (general practitioners) typically take into account in their charging. At no time did we make specific comments on this specific case since we do not have the details to enable us to do so,” the ministry said.

“Sadly, ST wrongly attributed MOH as having said that there was ‘nothing wrong’ with the clinic’s practice in this instance.”

MOH added that it will be reviewing the case in question, now that it knows which clinic was involved.