SINGAPORE — Medstar Medical Clinic & Surgery is under investigation for issuing medical certificates (MCs) without any audio or video consultation on its telemedicine website, PocketCare.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) said it received information in February that PocketCare had been advertising on Instagram and its website that patients would be able to obtain an MC in five minutes for S$5.99 nett, with no video consultation required.

Investigations found that Medstar "has been providing consultation through a self-service text-based questionnaire" and issuing MCs afterward, without any audio or video interaction with patients, the ministry said in a press release on Friday (Feb 23).

"As there is no real-time two-way engagement with an attending doctor during the service, patients could potentially provide false or inaccurate responses without any verification made on those responses by a doctor, and obtain a medical certificate for a period of one to two days without appropriate clinical assessment," said MOH.

"Patients who require a proper consultation may also not obtain the appropriate clinical assessment to manage their medical conditions."

Medstar, located along Serangoon Road, is currently licensed under the Healthcare Services Act 2020 (HCSA) to provide outpatient medical services.

MOH said that by providing consultations without the use of any audio or video methods, Medstar may have breached a regulation that necessitates "two-way interactive audiovisual communications" when providing outpatient medical services remotely to first-time patients.

The PocketCare website was also found to have featured claims that patients could “Get Your MC or Get a Refund”, said MOH, adding that it is investigation whether the statement infringes any regulations.

A check by CNA at about 5pm on Friday showed that the PocketCare website was down, with a message stating that it was "undergoing maintenance and will be back soon".

The Health Ministry has issued a notice to Medstar, stating Director-General of Health Kenneth Mak's intention to take regulatory action, including a three-month suspension of its telemedicine services and the need to rectify its consultation services before it can be resumed.

In addition, MOH has referred Dr Viknesh Shanmugam, the medical practitioner who issued medical certificates following the consultations, to the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) for investigations into possible breaches of its ethics code.

MOH warned that it "will not hesitate to investigate and take regulatory and/or enforcement action against licensees who have contravened the HCSA and its subsidiary legislation, as well as refer any errant registered medical practitioners to the SMC for disciplinary action". CNA