SINGAPORE: A dentist who made false MediSave claims for surgical procedures he never performed was on Monday (Aug 28) sentenced to three years and one month’s jail.
Singaporean John Sun, previously known as Sng Wee Hock, was convicted of 14 counts of cheating and forgery in April.
Seven of the charges relate to the false claims, which resulted in the disbursement of S$11,750 (US$8,660) by the Central Provident Fund (CPF) Board.
Sun also submitted seven forged photos of X-rays to the Ministry of Health (MOH) when it conducted an audit and requested documents to show that the procedures claimed had been performed.
“The alterations were meant to deceive MOH that the procedures had been performed when they had not, in order to prevent MOH from clawing back the wrongful disbursements,” the police said in a media release on Monday.
Sun, 50, committed the offences in 2014 when he was the director and practising dentist of WH Dental & Associates clinics.
In their closing submissions, deputy public prosecutors Suhas Malhorta and Gerald Tan said Sun made false claims for two procedures which they referred to as FBR (foreign body removal) and ABG (autogenous bone graft).
The prosecutors said the affected patients wanted implants, which they received, but not any FBR or ABG procedures.
The patients do not recall undergoing any of the two procedures in question, the prosecutors said. They also did not undergo any preparatory steps such as imaging that is necessary for the procedures.
Noting that it is rare for dentists to perform FBR, the prosecutors said: “There is no plausible explanation as to why the accused had to perform so many of this extremely rare procedure.”
Sun was previously suspended for other cases of misconduct.
In 2016, he was fined S$40,000 and suspended for 15 months for delegating dental procedures to unqualified employees. In 2017, he was fined S$50,000 and suspended for 15 months, after he failed to supervise two foreign-trained dentists for several months under his charge, TODAY reported.
In 2019, he was suspended for four months letting an oral health therapist fit braces on a boy and fined S$10,000. He was also fined another S$8,000 for failing to keep proper notes.
CNA has contacted the Singapore Dental Council for comment.