Thomson Medical Centre apologises for charging S$200 for face masks

The correct price is S$55.

Belmont Lay | August 28, 2016, 06:23 PM

Private hospital, Thomson Medical Centre (TMC), has issued an apology for lapses in their billing process.

This was after a mother of two wrote on Facebook about the discrepancies she found in the hospital’s itemised bills following the hospitalisation of her two children.

Her son and daughter were diagnosed with hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) in July this year, one after the other.

After making a comparison, she found that a box of 50 pieces of regular disposable face masks were charged S$55 in her daughter’s bill but S$200 in her son’s bill.

TMC has issued a statement and said they have apologised to the mother and rectified the error, which arose due to the selection of the wrong billing code.

This is TMC's statement in full:

Thomson Medical acknowledges that lapses in our billing process caused undue concern and inconvenience to Ms Mandy Chan. For this, we have apologised to Ms Chan personally and we again convey our sincere apologies to her.

The billing error was attributed to the fact that the box of masks were mistakenly charged as $200 instead of $55 due to an error in the selection of the billing code. We have rectified the charges and strive to take measures to prevent a similar recurrence. The hospital's charges are transparent and our priority is to do our best for our patients. We acknowledge that we could have done better. We thank the family for choosing Thomson Medical Centre and we are glad that both children have recovered well.

Thomson Medical sincerely apologises to Ms Mandy Chan for any inconvenience caused due to this incident.

 

Related article:

Private hospital in S’pore billed S$200 for a box of regular disposable face masks

 

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