SINGAPORE — In the wake of two recent controversial disciplinary tribunal rulings, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said on Thursday (March 14) that it has appointed 12 members to a workgroup to review two issues.

One is the taking of patients’ informed consent by doctors, the other is the disciplinary process of the Singapore Medical Council (SMC), which regulates doctors here.

The workgroup, which was first announced earlier this month by Mr Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State for Health and Law, comprises medical and legal professionals as well as laypersons.

The workgroup will meet in the coming weeks, and is expected to complete its work by the end of the year.

It will seek the views of medical practitioners and the public in order to make suitable recommendations to MOH.

GIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

On the taking of informed consent from patients, the workgroup will provide recommendations on the practical steps and any ethical and/or legal standards expected of medical practitioners doing so.

It will also review and give recommendations on the SMC’s disciplinary process, including how complaints are considered and how disciplinary tribunal proceedings are conducted.

Its review will go beyond the scope of the Sentencing Guidelines Committee set up by the SMC earlier this year to ensure that disciplinary sentences for doctors are fair and consistent. This 16-member committee is made up of SMC members and lawyers.

In another development, the SMC said on Thursday that it has decided to appeal to the courts to reduce the S$50,000 fine imposed on Dr Soo Sheunn Chiang.

Dr Soo, a psychiatrist with the National University Hospital (NUH), was penalised by an SMC disciplinary tribunal for failing to verify the identity of a caller who posed as a patient’s husband when he wrote a memo referring the patient to the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in 2015. In the process, he was ruled as having disclosed patient’s medical information without consent.

Doctors later petitioned against the decision, the second time in recent weeks that they have done so.

The first was for orthopaedic surgeon Lim Lian Arn. In January, Dr Lim’s penalty drew a similar outcry from the medical community when he was fined S$100,000 for failing to tell his patient of the possible side effects of a minor procedure.

Last month, the MOH asked the SMC to apply to the court to review the fine and its tribunal’s decision, the first time it has done so.

For Dr Soo’s case, the MOH said that it understood the concerns raised and welcomed the SMC’s decision to appeal against the tribunal’s decision.

In order to provide doctors with greater clarity on patients’ confidentiality when communicating with their next-of-kin, the ministry will also work with the SMC, the three professional medical bodies and public healthcare institutions to “formulate a practise note” to add to the SMC’s 2016 ethical code and ethical guidelines.

MEMBERS OF NEW WORKGROUP

The workgroup is co-chaired by:

• Associate Professor Ng Wai Hoe, deputy group chairman of SingHealth Medical Board

• Senior Counsel Kuah Boon Theng, managing director of Legal Clinic LLC

Its other members are:

• Dr SRE Sayampanathan, master of the Academy of Medicine, Singapore

• Adjunct Assistant Professor Tan Tze Lee, president of the College of Family Physicians Singapore

• Dr Lee Yik Voon, president of the Singapore Medical Association

• Paediatrician Dr Allyson Tan Swee Lin

• Associate Professor Marcus Ang, consultant ophthalmologist with the Singapore National Eye Centre

• Dr Wong Chiang Yin, consultant with SPH Silver Care

• Dr Lin Jingping, associate consultant with the NUH’s emergency medicine department

• Ms Mak Wei Munn, partner at Allen & Gledhill LLP

• Mr Roy Quek Hong Sheng, chief executive officer and executive director of Thomson Medical Group

• Professor Euston Quah, head of economics at Nanyang Technological University