MaNaDr Clinic’s found to have ‘entrenched culture of disregard’ for standards
The Ministry of Health (MOH) revoked the licence of MaNaDr Clinic on Dec 20.
With the revocation, MaNaDr Clinic will not be able to provide outpatient medical services at its clinic at City Gate at 371 Beach Road, temporary premises such as patients’ residences, and remotely via teleconsultations.
“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,” said the ministry in a statement.
It noted that a very large number of cases seen by MaNaDr Clinic involved very short teleconsultations.
In a sampled month, for instance, more than 100,000 teleconsultations involved video calls with patients of one minute or less in duration, with the shortest being one second.
“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,” said MOH.
At the same time, all its related accreditations and participation in MOH’s financial schemes like the Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas), MediSave and Healthier SG will cease.
The ministry said it has requested that MaNaDr Clinic inform all affected patients to ensure continuity of care.
Affected patients may wish to visit other nearby Chas, MediSave or Healthier SG clinics instead
MOH issued a notice to the errant operator on Oct 24 that the ministry intended to revoke its licence granted under the Healthcare Services Act 2020.
MaNaDr Clinic was given the opportunity to submit representations following the notice.
The ministry 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, and that it will not hesitate to take regulatory actions should non-compliance be found.
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