SINGAPORE – A cardiologist in private practice used to pay two ambulance services a commission for bringing him patients.
He would then run the patients through a battery of scans, many of which were not necessary, in order to inflate their bills.
As a result of these tests, three patients were delayed from receiving the urgent treatments they needed, according to a report by a committee, which was posted on the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) website last Friday.
An Interim Orders Committee (IOC) was set up to see if precautions needed to be put in place in the case of Dr Wong Siong Sung before a final decision is made by the disciplinary tribunal.
SMC’s disciplinary inquiries usually take years to complete.
The “Decision of the IOC” said that Dr Wong used to pay between 10 per cent and 20 per cent of what he billed patients to the Singapore Ambulance Association (SAA) and the Singapore Emergency Ambulance Services (SEAS) for bringing the patients to him.
Having received a complaint, the Ministry of Health (MOH) carried out an audit on Aug 6, 2020, which found that Dr Wong had done unnecessary tests and scans on five patients brought by the ambulance services to his facilities.
As a result, three of them were delayed from getting the urgent treatments they needed. One of these patients died.
Dr Wong is the medical director of Healthy Heart Specialist Centre (HHSC) and Somerset Imaging Centre (SIC).
The committee said one patient had fallen at home and hurt his head. An SAA ambulance took him to HHSC and SIC at around 10.40am where he had computed tomography (CT) scans of his brain, cervical spine, thorax, and pelvis. He was also given an electrocardiogram test.
During the CT scan, the patient’s condition deteriorated. He vomited and had difficulty breathing. He was sent to a hospital at around 1.50pm. He died three days later. His death was caused by a stroke.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...ed-by-doc-who-put-them-through-needless-tests
