Tuesday, January 12, 2010

The Singapore Medical Council gets new dentures......

First the 'greatest scientific scandal', which was Climategate. Then now, the greatest medical scandal of the H1N1 pandemic that never was. Hmmmm....what shall we call it? H1N1-gate? Swinegate?

In the midst of all this, the news that the Singapore Medical Council gets increased powers to act against errant doctors. Great news, I think. Unlike many of my colleagues who resent this intrusion into their professional lives, I think this empowerment has long been overdue. In the current overheated environment for commercialized medicine, more regulation is preferred over less.

The fundamental question remains - will this empowerment nudge the SMC to go down the more difficult road of acting against the big fish peddling false cures and promises, who may happen also to be influential colleagues, or will they just continue to busy themselves chasing after low lying fruits such as GPs with MC misdemeanors and those who sell anxiolytics?

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