Stricter Measures to Ensure Pre-employment Blood Tests Cannot be Forged

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar asked the Minister for Health whether there are stricter measures put in place to ensure blood tests cannot be forged for employment purposes.

The Senior Minister of State for Health (Dr Lam Pin Min) (for the Minister for Health): Mr Speaker, there are processes in place to ensure the integrity of the blood tests. First, the patient’s identity is verified at several points: when the blood tests are ordered, when the blood is drawn, and when the blood specimens are labelled. At dispatch and receipt by the testing laboratories, the labelled specimens are checked against the identity of the patient recorded in the laboratory test request forms.

For HIV tests, testing laboratories only accept patients or blood specimens with a referral from a registered medical practitioner. Hence, any direct request by employment agencies, employers or prospective employees for employment purposes would be rejected by the HIV testing laboratory.

Doctors who commit fraud involving blood tests or forgery of blood test results will be dealt with sternly, including prosecution under the Penal Code. Additionally, as doctors are required to adhere to a strict code of conduct by the Singapore Medical Council (SMC), they may also be subject to disciplinary action by SMC for professional misconduct.

The process checks, ethical standards to which healthcare professionals are held to and the deterrents imposed, work in tandem to safeguard against the falsification of blood tests.

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar (Ang Mo Kio): I thank the Senior Minister of State for the clarification. May I ask, other than blood tests, how else would MOM monitor possible forgery of work qualifications, academic qualifications, past work experience that may be put up by applicants, especially foreign applicants?

Dr Lam Pin Min: Can I just check with Dr Intan if she is referring to prospective employees who are employed by the healthcare sector?

Dr Intan Azura Mokhtar: Sorry. Okay, for the healthcare sector. I think it was supposed to be directed to MOM.

Dr Lam Pin Min: I suppose it would be similar with the other Ministries, in that we would actually check against the authenticity of the certificate, and if necessary, even to verify with the institution that issued the certificate to the prospective employee.