SINGAPORE: MaNaDr Clinic, which has been under investigation for providing extremely short teleconsultations, was stripped of its licence on Friday (Dec 20).
It will no longer be able to provide outpatient services at its clinic at 371 Beach Road City Gate, at temporary premises such as patients’ homes, as well as remotely via teleconsultations, the Ministry of Health (MOH) said in a media release.
The ministry had issued a notice to MaNaDr Clinic in October, informing it of the intention to revoke its licence. Forty-one doctors who conducted teleconsultations for MaNaDr Clinic would be referred to the Singapore Medical Council for possible professional misconduct.
“After careful consideration of MaNaDr Clinic’s representations, and based on the findings from MOH’s investigations, MOH has assessed that an entrenched culture of disregard for the applicable ethical and clinical standards exists within the organisation,” the ministry said.
It noted that a very large number of cases seen by MaNaDr Clinic involved very short teleconsultations.
“In a sampled month, more than 100,000 teleconsultations involved video calls with patients of one minute or less in duration, with the shortest being one second,” MOH said.
“The prevalence of such inappropriate practices suggests a lack of effective internal oversight, controls and governance to ensure that outpatient medical services are consistently provided in a clinically and ethically appropriate manner by all its doctors.”
All the clinic’s related accreditations and participation in MOH’s financial schemes, like the Community Health Assist Scheme, MediSave and Healthier SG, will cease.
MOH has asked MaNaDr Clinic to inform all affected patients to ensure continuity of care.
“Affected patients may wish to visit other nearby CHAS, MediSave, or Healthier SG clinics instead,” the ministry added.
MOH said it will continue to monitor licensed providers of outpatient medical services that provide teleconsultation services to ensure that teleconsultations are conducted in compliance with requirements, adding that it will not hesitate to take regulatory actions if necessary.
