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The Ministry of Health (MOH) is investigating Wan Medical Clinic and a registered medical practitioner in this clinic for allegedly conducting unsupervised Antigen Rapid Test (ART) Pre-Event Testing (PET) and submitting false Covid-19 vaccination and test information.
Alleged conduct of unsupervised ART PET
In a press release issued on Jan. 23, MOH said Wan Medical Clinic had allegedly partnered with Healing the Divide (HTD) founder Iris Koh to offer "remote" ART PET for HTD members.
Earlier today (Jan. 23), the police said they have arrested Koh, as well as a doctor and his assistant, for conspiracy to cheat and their alleged involvement in submitting false vaccination status to MOH.
Following an anonymous feedback in December 2021, MOH commenced its investigations.
Wan Medical Clinic was found to have allowed individuals to allegedly submit pre-recorded videos and/or photos purporting to show that they had performed ART PET on themselves to the clinic, MOH said.
The clinic then uploaded the negative ART results for these individuals.
Among other safeguards and requirements, MOH reiterated that supervised PET must be conducted in real-time and in the presence of a registered medical practitioner or qualified self-administered test supervisor.
The conduct of any unsupervised PET is a breach of Regulation 12(1A) of the Infectious Diseases (Antigen Rapid Test Providers) Regulations 2021 (“ART Regulations”).
Under Regulation 12(4) of the ART Regulations, if convicted of an offence under Regulation 12(1A), the test provider could face a fine not exceeding S$5,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or both.
Alleged submission of false information
In the course of their investigations, MOH also found that a registered medical practitioner in this clinic, Jipson Quah, has been allegedly involved in providing a vaccination service where false information was caused to be submitted to the National Immunisation Registry.
The false information indicated that Covid-19 vaccines had been administered to individuals, when they had in fact not received such vaccinations.
In doing so, these individuals will be considered vaccinated and be eligible for all vaccination-differentiated safe management measures.
Quah was also found to have allegedly submitted a false positive ART result to the Patient Risk Profile Portal, a national healthcare system used by doctors to upload ART results and other patient information, MOH added.
This submission could allow the unvaccinated patient to obtain a recovered status and be exempted from vaccination-differentiated safe management measures.
A police report has been lodged on Jan. 21 for further investigations to be conducted into the matter.
Suspension of four medical clinics
MOH will be issuing notices of intention of suspension to four medical clinics, which were licensed to Quah and/or which he is a clinic manager, while pending the outcome of investigations, as well as revoking the ART approvals for these clinics.
The four clinics are Wan Medical Clinic, Mayfair Medical Clinic, Mayfair Medical Clinic (Yishun Chong Pang), and Ong Clinic & Surgery (Yishun).
MOH will also be referring Quah to the Singapore Medical Council for further investigations.
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