Ex–surgeon struck from dental register over MediSave scam

Singapore: A former dental surgeon and managing director of a dental group was removed from the Register of Dentists for his involvement in one of the country’s biggest dentist cheating scandals. This decision was reached by the disciplinary committee of the Singapore Dental Council.

Cecil Goh Chin Chye was previously charged in court for making dishonest claims from Medisave, Singapore’s national medical savings scheme. 

Prior convictions

In August last year, he was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment, convicted of 36 charges, with 214 other charges taken into consideration. The 36 charges include 29 cheating offences, six forgery charges and a criminal conspiracy charge.

Goh was charged along with four other former employees of The Smile Division Dental Group (TSD), where he was the managing director. They were Dr Daniel Liew Yaoxiang, Dr Steven Ang Kiam Hau and Yeo Meow Koon, the practice manager at the time.

TSD is a dental practice group that had, between 2011 and 2013, nine clinics in various locations and employed around 30 dentists.

False claims to circumvent withdrawal limits

According to the disciplinary committee, Ang had around 2019, made dishonest MediSave claims – certifying that dental procedures had been performed on patients over numerous appointments, when in fact these procedures were performed in one or two days.

Ang’s intention for making the fraudulent claims was to maximize the patient’s MediSave funds to cover the fees of the procedures, and thus circumvent the daily withdrawal limits for day surgery imposed by the Ministry of Health (MOH). 

When Goh discovered that Ang had carried out the cheating scheme, he did not stop Ang but adopted a similar scheme at the branch where he worked.

He also entered into a conspiracy with Ang and Liew to defraud the national medical fund, which had the effect of “prematurely and substantially” depleting their patients’ medical savings, said the committee.

“The three of them thought that as long as the splitting of claims was kept low profile, nothing would happen,” said the committee.

“The disciplinary committee noted that the nature and extent of the respondent’s (Goh’s) dishonesty was grave because it was calculated and carried out repeatedly over a long period of time and primarily for financial gain,” said the Singapore Dental Council.

Costs of disciplinary action

The fraudulent MediSave claims made on behalf of 10 of Goh’s patients amounted to S$316,900 (US$233,646), while Ang scammed S$434,241 (S$320,160) from MediSave through making 283 dishonest claims from 13 patients.

In addition to being struck off the Dentist Register, Goh will have other costs and expenses to pay. These include the costs of the solicitors to the Singapore Dental Council and the cost incurred by the council for engaging the legal assessor.

“The Singapore Dental Council reminds all dental professionals that it takes a serious view of their conduct and ethics,” said the Council.

“The SDC would like to urge all dental professionals to be cognisant of the laws and regulations governing dental practices, and to comply with the provisions of the code of ethics of the profession as well as directives and guidelines issued by the Ministry of Health.”