Bishan clinic's licence revoked over prescription violations
A clinic in Bishan has had its licence to provide outpatient medical services revoked by the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Jan 24, over its repeated failure to control its prescription of medicines, such as benzodiazepines, to patients.
Prudence Family Clinic, located at 512 Bishan Street 13, will not be able to offer healthcare services at its premises, during house calls or remotely via teleconsultations, said the MOH on Jan 25.
In its investigations, the ministry found that the clinic had on numerous occasions flouted the Healthcare Services Act in relation to the prescription of codeine cough medicine, benzodiazepines and other hypnotics.
For example, the clinic failed to ensure its doctors avoided concurrent prescribing of two or more benzodiazepines or other hypnotics to their patients.
Also, Prudence failed to ensure its doctors referred patients to specialists for further management, after the patients had been on benzodiazepines or other hypnotics beyond eight cumulative weeks.
Benzodiazepines are a class of drugs that have muscle-relaxant and anti-convulsant properties, while medicines such as Zopiclone and Zolpidem are considered non-benzodiazepine hypnotics, or hypnotics, according to a 2022 Singapore Medical Council (SMC) newsletter, which referenced MOH guidelines.
Both are used to treat insomnia, anxiety and other medical conditions, and can lead to drug dependence if used inappropriately, according to the same newsletter.
Also, patients who use codeine cough medicines daily or almost daily for more than a month have a high likelihood of drug dependence, the SMC newsletter said.
Prudence also dropped the ball when it came to documenting patient health records of patients prescribed those drugs, MOH said.
“The numerous contraventions of the conditions of its licence (over) less than a year demonstrate a lack of effective internal oversight, controls and governance by Prudence Family Clinic,” the ministry said.
“In view of these, MOH has assessed that Prudence Family Clinic is no longer able to provide outpatient medical services in a manner that is clinically safe and ethically appropriate.”
The clinic’s related accreditations, as well as participation in Healthier SG and financial schemes like Community Health Assist Scheme (Chas) and MediSave, will cease.
Also, two doctors at the clinic have been referred to the Health Sciences Authority for errant prescribing practices, and will be referred to the SMC for potential breaches in ethical and opioid prescription guidelines.
Prudence was issued with a notice on Dec 20 about the intended revocation of its licence, but did not submit its representations, said the MOH.
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