Doctors must treat all patients equally

I refer to the report “Doctors seek clearer rules on MCs for foreign workers” (March 29).

Frankly, I am unable to fathom the call by the medical fraternity to have clearer medical certificate (MC) guidelines from the authorities.

All patients are to be treated equally by all doctors.

Why are doctors even under the “undue influence” of external parties or frameworks when deciding how many days of medical leave to give injured foreign workers? Should they not be looking after the interests of their patients first and foremost?

It makes a mockery of the medical profession, that doctors are having to do this.

Construction workers generally engage in heavy-duty work, and when they suffer serious injuries, they need to be given more days to rest.

What is the problem with giving such a patient more than three days of medical leave if his condition warrants it? Why are doctors concerned about competition, and the insurance schemes of the patient’s employer? Would they treat their own family members this way should they need an MC?

Doctors must not corrupt their profession by allowing employers to dictate to them the duration of their workers’ medical leave. If so, then it is the doctor’s duty to report such demanding employers to the relevant authorities.

The employers are not the patients, so the confidentiality issue does not arise. A patient’s medical condition must never be misrepresented just to please employers, who use it as an excuse not to report injuries to the Manpower Ministry.

Please do not play around with a person’s life. A foreign worker is a human being, no different from the rest of us. He places his trust in the doctor to do the right thing by him.

Any doctor who chooses to go astray, to win clients from employers, deserves to be banned from practising.

Any doctor who claims he is unduly influenced by an employer to do the wrong thing should also be banned, because it is the most nonsensical argument I have heard in years.