Restoring confidence in medical disciplinary process.

Restoring confidence in medical disciplinary process.

MOST doctors accept that in any just society, patients have the right to expect complaints about doctors' alleged professional misconduct to be thoroughly and rigorously investigated by an independent panel, so that public confidence in the integrity of Singapore's healthcare system is safeguarded.

In the case between Dr Lawrence Ang and the Singapore Medical Council ("Why SMC was ordered to pay doctor's legal costs"; last Tuesday), the SMC's Complaints Committee initially found that Dr Ang did not have any case to answer and all charges were dismissed.

Under the Medical Registration Act (MRA), both complainant and respondent have the right to appeal to the health minister against the Complaints Committee's verdict.

In this case, the complainant appealed to the health minister, who then told the SMC to hold a disciplinary hearing, which found Dr Ang guilty and suspended him.

The perception in the medical community is that this route of appeal for ministerial intervention may encourage abuse by dissatisfied complainants, as it carries little financial cost for the complainant.

The Court of Appeal also alluded to the fact that the reason for the minister's intervention was unknown.

It said: "It is not evident why or how the decision of the Complaints Committee was considered to be unsatisfactory."

To allay the anxiety among doctors, could the Ministry of Health reveal the following statistics since the MRA was amended to allow ministerial discretion in the appeal process?

How many appeal cases have been received by the ministry from dissatisfied complainants after the Complaints Committee stage?

Of these, how many were dismissed by the minister and how many were redirected back to the SMC for review by a Disciplinary Committee?

Of those reviewed by a Disciplinary Committee, how many had a verdict that was different from the Complaints Committee's conclusion?

With this information, I hope confidence can be restored in the integrity of the SMC's disciplinary process, so that doctors can practise with the assurance that only bona fide complaints proceed to the Disciplinary Committee stage.

The Straits Times/ Forum                                   Published on Tuesday, 17 March 2015

By Huang Shoou Chyuan (Dr)