Foreign doctor who moonlighted as locum, earning almost S$331,500, fined by disciplinary tribunal

[The_King]

SINGAPORE: A foreign doctor who moonlighted as a locum for about two-and-a-half years, earning almost S$331,500 (US$251,600) from this illegal side job, has been handed a fine of S$50,000 by the Singapore Medical Council's (SMC's) disciplinary tribunal.

Dr Queck Kian Kheng had been separately fined S$70,000 in June 2021 by a district court for flouting the Employment of Foreign Manpower Act by working as a self-employed foreigner without a valid work pass.

 

 

The latest fine was for one count of improper conduct that brought disrepute to the medical profession, as detailed in grounds of decision published on SMC's website on Thursday (Dec 28).

According to CNA's checks on the Ministry of Health's search engine for registered healthcare professionals in Singapore, Dr Queck currently specialises in neurology at the KK Queck Neurology Centre at Mount Alvernia Hospital. 

While his native country was not revealed in the grounds of decision, he is listed on the MOH search engine as obtaining his doctor of medicine from the National University of Malaysia in 2009.

According to the SMC disciplinary tribunal's grounds of decision, Dr Queck held an employment pass as an associate consultant with Singapore Health Services at the time of the offences.

However, he did not have a valid work pass to be engaged as a doctor at various medical clinics. 

Advertisement

 

Despite holding only a specific employment pass that allowed him to work for Singapore Health Services, Dr Queck provided locum services at 25 medical clinics on 511 occasions between November 2016 and May 2019.

A locum is a stand-in doctor.

Dr Queck earned an additional income of about S$331,443.40 from the illegal side job as a locum over the period of about two-and-a-half years.

He faced three charges in the State Courts for being a self-employed foreigner engaged as a doctor without a valid work pass and was sentenced to a fine of S$70,000 in June 2021.

After the court conviction, SMC brought a charge against him under the Medical Registration Act for an improper act or conduct which brings disrepute to the medical profession.

 

 

The SMC asked for a fine of S$50,000, while Dr Queck's lawyers agreed on a fine but left the quantum to the tribunal.

SMC agreed that there was no direct evidence of premeditation or intentional conduct by Dr Queck.

MITIGATION

In mitigation, Dr Queck's lawyers said he had cooperated with investigations and voluntarily disclosed all his locum engagements.

Dr Alex Cheng and Mr Eric Tin from Donaldson & Burkinshaw law firm added that Dr Queck's commission of the offences "was not primarily profit-motivated, but was more to improve his clinical skills and broaden his medical knowledge during his free time".

They said the offences had been committed due to Dr Queck's "honest omission and inadvertence to check whether he could engage in locum practice as a self-employed foreigner without a valid work pass".

 

 

The lawyers added that Queck took remedial steps once he knew of the error, by ceasing locum practice immediately and taking steps to apply for permanent residence. He is now a Singapore permanent resident.

The disciplinary tribunal said it was of the view that the fact the breaches took place over such a prolonged period pushed Dr Queck's conduct "beyond mere inadvertence and more towards indifference".

While the tribunal noted Dr Queck's contributions to the community through free medical services, it added that this contrasts with the additional income he earned from his illegal employment.

While Dr Queck had claimed that his locum practice was to "further develop his diagnostic and treatment skills which could also in turn benefit patients that he saw in the hospital", the tribunal questioned why Dr Queck had not volunteered his medical services instead.

However, the tribunal found the SMC's proposed fine of S$50,000 to be reasonable and imposed it on Dr Queck, keeping in mind he had already been fined S$70,000 by the State Courts among other factors.

The tribunal also ordered that Dr Queck be censured, submit a written undertaking to SMC that he would not engage in such conduct again and to pay the costs and expenses of the proceedings including the costs of SMC's counsel.

Source: CNA/ll(gr)

[coffeenut]

37 minutes ago, The_King said:

Dr Alex Cheng and Mr Eric Tin from Donaldson & Burkinshaw law firm added that Dr Queck's commission of the offences "was not primarily profit-motivated, but was more to improve his clinical skills and broaden his medical knowledge during his free time".

 

 

Okay, fine the doc I can understand .. but what about all the clinics that had him on their roster - they never check and MoH has no registry check online so the clinics can verify whether a doc is allowed to be on their rolls? 

[The_King]

13 minutes ago, coffeenut said:

 

 

Okay, fine the doc I can understand .. but what about all the clinics that had him on their roster - they never check and MoH has no registry check online so the clinics can verify whether a doc is allowed to be on their rolls? 

i will tell them to monitor OK?

 

 

 

 

PS:

note to clinics, please do monitoring 

 

Edited December 28, 2023 by The_King

[XianGe]

Cheaper faster better 

[DynamiteZerg]

Our MIW's favourite type of FT from the North. An lah... no problemo one. Even gave him PR liao!

 

He will pawn many sinkies along his way to his riches and then retire home in comfort and style in big bungalows!