SUSPENSION OF NEUROSURGEON (Heavier penalty for future cases)

Encik Abbas Abu Amin asked the Acting Minister for Health whether he is satisfied with the outcome of the recent Singapore Medical Council Inquiry in which a neurosurgeon in private practice was suspended from practice for 12 months for gross negligence in the management of a patient resulting in the patient's death; and what action he will take to ensure that similar cases are more severely dealt with in future.

The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, the doctor in question is a non-Singaporean doctor in private practice. He was trained as a Neurosurgeon in Europe. He was charged by the Singapore Medical Council with misleading a patient to believe that she required urgent brain surgery and with managing the patient in a grossly negligent manner. The patient died from complications following surgery some three months later.

The case was heard by the Singapore Medical Council which is an independent statutory body established under the Medical Registration Act. It comprises 13 senior members of the medical profession.

The Council heard the case over a period of 19 days and found the doctor guilty as charged. The Council decided to impose a suspension of 12 months, which is the maximum period of suspension permitted under the Act.

Whilst there may have been some mitigating factors, I believe, however, that a doctor who is found guilty of gross negligence in the management of a patient is guilty of gross professional misconduct, and therefore, deserves a more severe penalty than a suspension period of only 12 months. Unfortunately, a longer suspension period is not available under the existing legislation.

The Ministry of Home Affairs did not renew the doctor's employment pass when it expired in September 1988 and will not do so in future. His name may accordingly be removed from the Register of Medical Practitioners by the Singapore Medical Council as he is not practising and will no longer be able to practise in Singapore.

My Ministry has since December 1987 undertaken a review of the Medical Registration Act with the objective of updating its provisions, raising standards of professional conduct and practice, and enabling the Singapore Medical Council to carry out its functions more effectively by prescribing an appropriate range of penalties relative to the severity of the charges.

My Ministry plans to take to Parliament the proposed amendments to the Act within the next few months. These amendments, when approved, will enable such cases of gross professional misconduct to be dealt with more severely in the future.