New panel to help errant docs get fair sentences
Committee will develop a framework to help disciplinary tribunals
The Singapore Medical Council (SMC) has appointed a 16-member committee that will help ensure errant doctors get disciplinary sentences that are consistent and fair.
It said in a statement yesterday that the new Sentencing Guidelines Committee will develop a framework to guide disciplinary tribunals in meting out appropriate sanctions, "taking into account sentencing principles".
"The sentencing guidelines will help the disciplinary tribunals in ensuring consistency and fairness in the sentences meted out, and improve transparency and rigour in the disciplinary process," it said.
The SMC also said that in developing the guidelines, committee members will consider local jurisprudence on professional conduct and discipline, as well as the practices and approaches adopted by other jurisdictions.
They will also set out the mitigating and aggravating factors - like a doctor's seniority - which a disciplinary tribunal can take into account when deciding on the appropriate sanction.
Currently, disciplinary tribunals look at penalties imposed in the past to decide whether a doctor should be fined, suspended or struck off the register.
But last September, a disciplinary tribunal called for clear sentencing guidelines to be drawn up to ensure penalties meted out are consistent.
Its chairman, Professor Walter Tan, said having clear guidelines would also let doctors know, from the penalties, how severely certain actions are viewed.
The matter was also raised in a commentary by The Straits Times senior health correspondent Salma Khalik, in which she said such guidelines are "long overdue".
The new committee is headed by Judge of Appeal Judith Prakash.
"The members possess the necessary breadth and depth of subject matter knowledge and expertise, as well as legal expertise, to facilitate a thorough and considered review of the disciplinary process to propose a set of sentencing guidelines," the SMC said.
Ms Joan Pereira, a member of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, said giving disciplinary tribunals clear, transparent guidelines to work with "will remove uncertainty and reduce elements of subjective judgment".
"Eventually, this should also help to improve the standards of healthcare delivery and better deter disciplinary infringements," she said.
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