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Man jailed for using fake SCDF documents to get paramedic job

SINGAPORE — He lied that he was a medic in the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and forged several supporting documents to score a job as a paramedic for a private ambulance service.

The SCDF's emergency ambulance. TODAY file photo

The SCDF's emergency ambulance. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — He lied that he was a medic in the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) and forged several supporting documents to score a job as a paramedic for a private ambulance service. 

But the tall tale fell apart after his boss noticed discrepancies in the forged documents, and sent them to the SCDF for verification.

Loh Wei Ming, 30, was on Tuesday (June 20) jailed six months for fraudulently using forged documents.

The court heard that sometime in 2014, Loh applied to be a paramedic at the Royal Ambulance Services. He told the director Mr Alias Othman, during an interview, that he was a trained paramedic from the 4th SCDF Division.

Loh was asked to produce his Basic Cardiac Life Support and Automated External Defibrillation certificates to prove that he was trained in life-saving situations. 

He did so, and also submitted a photocopied service transcript, allegedly signed by the then-Commander of the 4th SCDF Division Lieutenant-Colonel Francis Ng. 

The documents, which had all been forged, helped Loh get a job as a part-time paramedic on June 2, 2014. He also doubled up as an ambulance driver as he had a driver’s licence. 

Loh worked on weekdays, earning S$8 an hour.

About four months into the job, Loh was sacked as he did not follow Mr Alias’ instructions. 

A few days after the termination, Mr Alias realised that the documents that Loh had given him were different from certificates submitted by another employee, who was from the SCDF.

Checks with the SCDF showed that the documents submitted by Loh were forged, and also revealed that he had been an administration clerk in charge of the logistics department during his time with the SCDF.

Loh’s defence lawyer, Mr Amolat Singh, said in mitigation that his client’s job scope at Royal Ambulance was limited to driving the ambulance.

He was never required to perform paramedic duties or procedures on patients throughout his employment, Mr Singh said.

“At all times, he had a properly trained medic or nurse with him in the ambulance, who attended to the patients he was conveying in his ambulance. In short, no lives were ever at risk, nor did his forgery lead to any loss to anyone,” said Mr Singh.

The veteran lawyer added that Loh was fired from his job after quarrelling with Mr Alias about his job scope.

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