Dr. Maninder Singh Shahi, a family physician with 35 years of experience, was found to have been prescribing sedatives to seven patients, three of them elderly, at his clinic for more than a decade. , was suspended by the Singapore Disciplinary Tribunal. Channel News Asia reported.
The report said: “Dr Maninder Singh Shahi, an Indian-origin physician, was given a three-year medical ban by the Singapore Disciplinary Tribunal for inappropriately prescribing long-term sedatives to seven patients at his clinic over a period of more than 10 years. He was suspended,” he said.
A family physician with 35 years of experience was also unable to document why he repeatedly prescribed such drugs to a patient.
In its reasons for judgment released on Tuesday (9 January), the three-judge bench accepted the Singapore Medical Council’s (SMC) application for suspension, but rejected Dr Singh’s argument for a reduction in sentence due to delay in prosecution. refused.
Dr. Singh was practicing at the 81 Family Clinic in Marine Parade Central at the time. The clinic has since been renamed Legacy Clinic, the report states.
He pleaded guilty in court to 14 counts of professional misconduct relating to his conduct between 2002 and 2016.
“These charges include inappropriately prescribing benzodiazepines, zopiclone, and zolpidem, failing to refer patients or to timely referrals to psychiatrists or specialists, and failing to include patient medical records. These included failure to preserve sufficient details,” the report said.
Benzodiazepines treat a variety of conditions such as insomnia and anxiety, while zolpidem and zopiclone are non-benzodiazepine drugs that treat insomnia.
Dr. Singh prescribed these drugs to affected patients for periods ranging from 7 years to 13 years and 8 months.
The patient Dr. Singh treated the longest, identified only as P3, was seen more than 300 times for insomnia.
SMC’s Code of Ethics and Guidelines require physicians to use these drugs intermittently or prescribe them for short-term symptom relief for two to four weeks. It also calls for limiting chronic benzodiazepine prescriptions to the extent possible, the report said.
SMC alleged that Dr. Singh exposed the patient to a substantial possibility of serious injury or harm by inappropriately prescribing hypnotics.
These long-term prescriptions “certainly created or encouraged patient dependence or tolerance” to the drugs, the SMC added.
“The Disciplinary Court has held that the main sentencing principle in cases involving the inappropriate prescription of benzodiazepine and non-benzodiazepine hypnotics is deterrence, given that such misconduct appears to be increasingly prevalent. “We have repeatedly emphasized this,” the newspaper said.
To make himself feel better, Dr. Singh said he was not motivated by profit or greed and wanted to help his patients by prescribing them hypnotics.
Dr. Singh said he tried to refer three patients to a psychiatrist, but they did not want to be referred.
In such a situation, he did not want to alienate them and felt it was important for them to remain under his care and continue to monitor their condition.
Dr. Singh also said he ran a “very busy” clinic, seeing between 40 and 70 patients a day for many years.
Since then, he has handed over the primary care of the clinic to his daughter, and sees patients only at night.