MaNaDr Clinic stripped of licence after probe into very short teleconsultations

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SINGAPORE: &nbsp, MaNaDr Clinic, which has been under scrutiny for providing&nbsp, extremely&nbsp, short teleconsultations, was stripped of its licence on Friday ( Dec 20 ).

It will&nbsp, no longer be able to&nbsp, 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) &nbsp, said&nbsp, in a media release.

The government had issued&nbsp, a realize to MaNaDr Clinic in October, informing it of the intent to withdraw its licence. &nbsp, Forty-one specialists who conducted&nbsp, teleconsultations for MaNaDr Clinic may be referred to the&nbsp, Singapore Medical Council for&nbsp, possible expert wrongdoing.

” After careful thought of MaNaDr Clinic’s images, and based on the findings from MOH’s studies, MOH has assessed that an ingrained culture of disrespect for the relevant social and medical standards exists within the organisation”, the department said.

It noted that&nbsp, a&nbsp, extremely large number of cases seen by&nbsp, MaNaDr Clinic involved very&nbsp, little teleconsultations.

” In a selected quarter, more than 100, 000 teleconsultations engaged video calls with people of one minute or less in length, with the least being one second“, MOH said.

The prevalence of these improper behaviors points to a lack of effective internal controls, governance, and oversight to ensure that all of its doctors are treated continuously and ethically in accordance with the law.

All the patient’s related&nbsp, accolades and involvement in MOH’s economic plans, like the&nbsp, Community Health Assist Scheme, MediSave and&nbsp, Healthier SG, will continue.

MOH has requested that MaNaDr Clinic be informing all the afflicted patients to ensure continuity of care.

” Affected individuals may wish to visit various local CHAS, MediSave, or Healthier SG facilities instead”, the department added.

MOH stated that it will continue to monitor licensed ambulatory health service providers to make sure that teleconsultations are conducted in accordance with regulations, and that it will not be hesitant to take regulatory action if necessary.