Back in 2022, Wake Up Singapore (WUSG) published an article featuring a woman's claims about having a miscarriage at KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

In a post that has since been taken down, the woman accused the hospital staff of displaying a lack of professionalism and dumping out her dead foetus with the medical waste.

She later admitted that she lied, and asked the platform to recant her original statements.

Police have since stated that they will be charging a 26-year-old man in court on Apr. 24, 2024 for his involvement in the publication of the article.

WUSG revealed that its founder, Ariffin Sha, will be charged.

Charged with defamation

A police statement on Apr. 23, 2024 said that upon receiving a police report from KKH, the police consulted the Attorney-General’s Chambers and were authorised to investigate the matter.

Investigations revealed that the man was purportedly the administrator for WUSG’s website, Facebook page, and Instagram page.

Subsequent investigations found that the allegations in the article were untrue.

Those charged with defamation can be sentenced up to two years in jail, or fined, or both.

What the woman claimed

WUSG put up the woman's first-person account of her "miscarriage" on Mar. 23, 2022.

The expectant mother, who was 20-weeks pregnant during end-February 2022, alleged that she was bleeding profusely while left waiting to be attended to at the KKH drop-off point.

She claimed that she was only attended to four hours later, and that she suffered a miscarriage while waiting.

Among other claims, she alleged that later, when she asked if she could have the foetus returned to her for a proper burial, she was allegedly told it had been dumped out together with the medical waste.

In response to Today's queries in 2022, KKH's chairman of the Obstetrics and Gynaecology division, Professor Tan Hak Koon, said the hospital was aware of the online account but were unable to identify the patient.

KKH later released a statement saying that the online report was "incorrect".

Issued POFMA correction order

On Mar. 25, 2022, WUSG shared that the woman had lied.

It added that they received doctored medical documents from the woman.

"We are so, so sorry. We have let all of you down. We have just learnt that we were lied to at every turn, and the documents sent to us were doctored. We apologise to KKH and all our readers. We seek your forgiveness."

The platform published an apology and full account of the events following the woman's confession.

Two days later on Mar. 27, 2022, the Ministry of Health (MOH) instructed the Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office to issue a correction direction to WUSG.

Founder's statement

"We are sorry," Sha said in response to Mothership's queries.

"It was a genuine mistake. Despite the circumstances, there were things that we could have done better with the verification process. We take full responsibility for the incident and we have since put in place measures to ensure that such an event does not reoccur."

Nevertheless, he said that WUSG has "fully co-operated" in the course of investigations and are "genuinely remorseful" for what happened.

He added that WUSG "complied accordingly" after the POFMA order was issued to them.

"We also acted swiftly to inform our readers and apologised both publicly and privately," he said, stating that WUSG, as a volunteer-run-independent platform, will "strive to do better".

Top images via Wake Up Singapore