Doctor fined, suspended for four months

This time, it is benzodiazepines and not subutex, but these two are the drugs most commonly liberally prescribed. Four months suspension and $5,000 fine, there were different earlier cases of six months suspension and $7,000 fine so this Dr Chua did not break the record for this year.

Doctor fined, suspended for four months

05:55 AM Oct 20, 2010

by Saifulbahri Ismail

SINGAPORE - The Singapore Medical Council has suspended Dr Chua Boon Ling of Simon Road Family Clinic for four months when it found him guilty of professional misconduct.

Dr Chua was convicted of nine charges by the council's disciplinary committee.

The committee found that Dr Chua, 43, had inappropriately prescribed benzodiazepines on an indefinite basis to his patients.

It noted that the medication was highly addictive and that the prescribing physician had the responsibility to exercise great care and control to ensure that his patients did not develop an addiction. In addition, Dr Chua failed to properly maintain the relevant patients' records for the management of his patients' treatment.

The committee said such a failure was inappropriate and unprofessional in that the dependency of the patients was left unchecked.

In addition to being suspended, Dr Chua was also fined $5,000. He had filed an appeal to the High Court but subsequently withdrew it.