SINGAPORE – The Singapore Medical Council (SMC) imposed a three-year suspension in September
on a young doctor for faking two medical certificates
to cover two days of absence as a houseman in 2022.
This is the most severe penalty that SMC can impose on a doctor for wrongdoing, short of striking the person off the register.
imposed a similar penalty on Dr Wong Yoke Meng
, a doctor with 40 years of practice. He inappropriately prescribed hormone replacement therapies to 18 patients, causing actual harm to at least three of them. He had been punished by SMC for other breaches in 2001, 2011, 2015 and 2024.
The fact that SMC’s disciplinary tribunals (DTs) had imposed similar penalties for vastly different wrongdoings has caused a stir among doctors. Many of those who spoke to The Straits Times were concerned that judgment inconsistencies, which prompted the Ministry of Health (MOH) to intervene in 2019, may be resurfacing. At that time, MOH had ordered a review of the sentencing process and called for the establishment of guidelines.
While both doctors in the recent cases are at fault, some doctors told ST that the offences should not be viewed as equally serious. One doctor faked two MCs to cover the two days she did not turn up for work. The other one, who had previous records of misconduct, administered unnecessary treatments for financial gain and caused harm to patients.
In 2019, then Health Minister Gan Kim Yong told Parliament: “Some sentences are not commensurate with the circumstances of the case. Despite their best efforts, some DTs are too lax, whilst others are too draconian.”
Mr Gan added that it is important to maintain the confidence of doctors and the public. The lack of transparency or perceived fairness “will not only affect doctors, but ultimately compromise the quality of medical care, raising medical costs and harming patient welfare”, he said.
It is certainly worrying that SMC appears to view faking MCs as equally, or even more, severe than causing harm to patients. The actual punishment for Dr Cherida Yong Chun Yin, the houseman who forged the MCs, is six years rather than three because she had been suspended from work since 2022 when the offence was discovered.
What she did was definitely wrong, and such dishonesty must be punished.
At the time of the offence, she was undergoing the mandatory one-year internship at Singapore General Hospital. She did not turn up for work on two days in 2022 – once in June and once in September.
The first fake MC was submitted only in November that year, with no explanation for the delay. The hospital checked and found the MC to be fake. It also verified that the second MC was a forgery.
SMC sought a maximum period of suspension or for her to be struck off the register.
The DT said: “She pleaded guilty at the earliest opportunity and cooperated fully with the investigation. The dishonest conduct, while grave, was confined in scope and context.
“There was no manipulation of professional licensing or educational credentials, no repeated misconduct beyond the two known incidents, and no benefit obtained in the form of appointment, remuneration, or institutional status.”
However, it added that “the egregious nature of the dishonesty, consisting of repeated acts of fabricating official documentation… elevates the gravity of the misconduct that no downward calibration is warranted.”
The DT also said that what she did “compromises her professional reputation, erodes institutional trust, and undermines the credibility of medical certification processes” and that her punishment should also act as a deterrence to other doctors.
Hence, it ruled that Dr Yong merited a three-year suspension for each incident, with the suspensions to run concurrently. She also has to pay the cost of the proceedings, including fees for SMC’s lawyers.
