February 12, 2025
MaNaDr lapses a wake-up call to maintain ethical standards, say telehealth providers

SINGAPORE – Issues at MaNaDr Clinic flagged by the health authorities have served as a wake-up call for the telemedicine sector on the importance of good clinical practices, said telehealth players.

The clinic’s doctors were found to have conducted teleconsultations of less than a minute, issued multiple medical certificates (MCs) within a short period such as 30 days, and maintained extremely sparse patient case notes.

The incident has impacted public trust in telehealth, said telehealth provider Doctor Anywhere, citing this as a reason for the slight dip in business since news about the case broke in August.

On Oct 24, the Ministry of Health said it intends to revoke MaNaDr Clinic’s licence for providing outpatient medical services physically, remotely and at temporary premises such as patients’ residences.

Dr Andrew Fang, director of medical affairs at Doctor Anywhere, said the MaNaDr Clinic case has underscored that not all healthcare providers share the same commitment to upholding ethics or the right approach in healthcare.

“While we have seen a slight dip in telemedicine adoption rates, we are confident in a recovery because telehealth continues to meet essential healthcare needs and plays a vital role in supporting Singapore’s healthcare system,” he said.

The platform, which started operations in 2017, has over one million users in Singapore.

Dr Shravan Verma, co-founder and chief executive of Speedoc, said that while such incidents raise concerns, a focus on comprehensive documentation and patient-centred protocols can reassure employers and patients of the value of telehealth services – especially during critical periods like the pandemic.

“Our team is well prepared to reinforce transparency by proactively supporting HR departments’ requests for employee MC verification,” said Dr Verma.

Speedoc has served approximately 180,000 patients since the telemedicine app was started in 2017.

Telehealth platforms The Straits Times spoke to said that to ensure doctors are abiding by ethical and healthcare standards, they have regularly conducted internal audits on consultation length, frequency and issuing of MCs.

Doctor Anywhere, Speedoc, Raffles Medical Group, Fullerton Health and Pinnacle Family Clinic said they have some form of digital medical records system that allows them to identify patients with multiple recent consultations. These patients will be recommended to go for an in-person consultation at physical clinics.

Dr Marcus Lee, medical director at Fullerton Health, said patients who have teleconsultations for the same condition at least three times in a month will be flagged in its system.

He said the health group, which has 27 physical clinics, conducts audits on the duration of the MCs given on its telemedicine platform, to prevent abuse of its services. “For the first nine months of 2024, 95 per cent of our unique patients have an average of one MC or less in a month,” he said.

The company launched its telehealth platform in 2020, and conducts an average of 650 teleconsultations a day.

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