By Mak Yuen Teen
On April 24, HC Specialists issued a 14-page response to 19 queries from SGX. Many of the queries are related to questions I had raised in my two earlier articles on this website, titled “HC Surgical Specialists: From Medical Ethics to Corporate Governance” (April 14) and “HC Surgical Specialists: Further Thoughts on the Second Transaction” (April 16).
The company’s response to query no. 5, which sets out the chronology of events and parties involved, raises questions about the response of the SMC to the complaint raised by the woman at the centre of the issues relating to Dr Julian Ong; Dr Chan Herng Nieng, a former senior consultant of psychiatry at the Singapore General Hospital; and HC Surgical.
The chronology of events in the company’s response shows that the woman had lodged her complaint with the SMC on June 17, 2018, and Dr Ong was not aware of the SMC complaint against him at that time. Dr Ong said that he was only notified by the SMC on February 27, 2019. Therefore, according to Dr Ong, the SMC took more than 8 months to inform him about the complaint. Is it normal for the SMC to take such a long period of time to inform a doctor that a complaint has been made against him? Does this not raise concerns about the efficacy of the SMC in dealing with complaints, especially a complaint regarding such serious allegations?
According to the SMC website: “Investigations by the CC usually take at least nine months. For more complex complaints, investigations may take more than a year.” (https://www.healthprofessionals.gov.sg/docs/librariesprovider2/feedback/faqs-updated-on-5-mar-2020.pdf)
It seems odd that Dr Ong was only notified of the complaint after more than 8 months. How can investigations be completed timely if the doctor concerned is only informed after more than 8 months? Perhaps it is because SMC took more than 8 months to inform Dr Ong that the investigations have still not been completed some 22 months after the complaint was first made?
The company also said that Dr Ong had informed HC Surgical’s CEO in June 2018 that the woman had been spreading “rumours” about him and that he intended to sue her. On July 4, 2018, Dr Ong commenced the defamation suit against the woman and informed the CEO.
From the time when Dr Ong informed the CEO in June 2018 about the “rumours”, until February 27, 2019 when the SMC notified Dr Ong according to him, was there any mention of the SMC complaint in any correspondence, letter of demand or statement of claim?
As a concerned citizen, I hope that SMC will confirm the date when Dr Ong was informed about the complaint. If it was only in February, 2019, SMC should explain why it took such a long time to do so.
