NUH withdraws bankruptcy application against former patient after finding out he was in nursing home

The National University Hospital (NUH) has withdrawn a bankruptcy application they had previously made against a former patient, after learning that he was a fully subsidised patient in a nursing home.

This turn of events is laid out in the High Court's grounds of decision published on May 29.

On Dec. 24, 2024, NUH filed a bankruptcy application against Philip Soh Keng Cheang, 61, over a failure to pay a debt of over S$292,000.

On Feb. 6, 2025, the High Court declared Soh bankrupt.

The court later learned that NUH had changed its mind and instructed their lawyers to withdraw the application about an hour before its hearing began. However, their lawyers could not be reached in time.

On Apr. 15, the same assistant registrar who made the bankruptcy order in February reviewed and granted NUH's request to withdraw it.

Soh's debt

In 2014, Soh sued NUH for negligence following a spine surgery in the hospital that left him feeling weak and partially paralysed.

Soh claimed that NUH had acted negligently by failing to diagnose him earlier with a condition of peripheral neuropathy — damage to the nerves outside the brain and spinal cord.

He sought damages for the alleged negligence, but the court dismissed his case in 2021.

He was thus ordered to pay S$26,463.73 in outstanding hospital bills, and S$237,410.22 in legal costs. Adding on interest and other costs, he owed NUH a total of S$292,001.24.

NUH said that they tried repeatedly to reach out to Soh about paying the debt, but he failed to do so.

In Singapore, an individual or firm that is unable to repay any debt of at least S$15,000 may be declared a bankrupt by the High Court.

NUH's Chief Financial Officer, Lee Tai Hsiung, explained later in an affidavit that NUH was "obliged, as a publicly funded healthcare institution, to make all reasonable efforts to recover sums due to it".

It was "as a last resort" that it commenced the bankruptcy application against Soh in December 2024.

Withdrawing the application

A few days before the bankruptcy hearing on Feb. 6, the court received a letter from Soh stating that he could not attend it and would "respect the Court's decision".

In the letter, Soh said that he had been a resident at the Woodlands Care Home since February 2018, with all of his nursing home and medical expenses fully subsidised.

He also added that he was unable to work and had no sources of income.

Based on these circumstances, the High Court made the bankruptcy order.

According to Lee, NUH's management had been looking into Soh's latest financial and medical status around late January.

On Feb. 6, before the hearing began, NUH's medical social work team reported internally that Mr Soh was indeed living in a nursing home and entirely reliant on subsidies.

He was paying for his medical expenses through the Medical Fee Exemption Card scheme.

Individuals eligible for this scheme must have savings of S$6,000 or less, and a monthly per capita family income of S$800 or less. They must also be a resident of a publicly funded nursing home or shelter or disability home.

At around 1:30pm, roughly an hour before the hearing commenced, NUH's CEO sent instructions for the bankruptcy application to be withdrawn immediately.

However, NUH staff were unable to get through to their lawyers, who went into the hearing not knowing that NUH had changed their mind.

The next day, on Feb. 7, the lawyers told the court that NUH wanted to withdraw the bankruptcy application.

A formal request was filed on Mar. 14, and the bankruptcy order was rescinded on Apr. 15.

The reason for the withdrawal

In his affidavit, Lee explained that NUH decided to withdraw their bankruptcy bid against Soh "on purely compassionate reasons", considering his physical and financial circumstances condition.

NUH "does not wish for [Soh] to have to bear any further burdens that may arise from a bankruptcy order", Lee said.

Writing to the court ahead of Apr. 15, Soh expressed gratitude to NUH for the decision.

An NUH spokesperson told the Straits Times that the hospital had previously tried to convince Mr Soh to use his MediShield to help with paying his fees, but he refused to sign the medical claim authorisation form.

The spokesperson added that "while the rationale for the initial [bankruptcy] action remains valid", NUH "carefully considered the circumstances and determined that this case warrants an alternative resolution".

NUH will work with Soh towards an amicable resolution.

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