SINGAPORE - About a decade ago, a young relative of Mr Zhulkarnain Abdul Rahim (Chua Chu Kang GRC) suffered complications after surgery and died in hospital.

Her distraught parents, who had envisioned attending her graduation from university one day, were at a loss and sought an explanation. They filed a complaint against the hospital and attending doctors, he recounted in Parliament on Tuesday (Oct 6).

The investigation process took more than two years and ultimately, it was found there was no wrongdoing or negligence by the doctors.

"Although there was finality to the process, the sheer duration did not give the family any closure nor heal any wounds. Nothing can...assuage the anguish of the bereavement," he said.

Mr Zhulkarnain was among 11 MPs who spoke at the debate on the Medical Registration (Amendment) Bill and Civil Law (Amendment) Bill, both of which were later passed.

Some MPs, including Dr Tan Wu Meng (Jurong GRC) and Mr Ang Wei Neng (West Coast GRC), spoke in personal terms of their relatives and residents.

But all welcomed the changes, highlighting the quickened process in resolving complaints and making clearer to doctors what they need to tell patients for informed decision.

Mr Zhulkarnain said the shortened investigation process is an important move as it allows complainants to get closure earlier.

Dr Tan, who is a medical doctor and whose father is a cancer patient, agreed.

He noted that delayed justice is unfair for patient and families, who may have to wait many years for an outcome. "Delayed justice is also unjust to an accused, who will go for years not knowing if he or she will be found guilty or innocent."

At least three medical doctors spoke on the changes, including Senior Minister of State for Health Koh Poh Koon.

He welcomed the move to take into account the professional opinion of peers in setting out the new statutory test of a healthcare professional's duty in giving medical advice to a patient. This is a provision in the Civil Law (Amendment) Bill.

Speaking of his own experience, he said there are occasions where a doctor may need to take on some professional risk by withholding information from a patient who may be in denial about his condition, in order to convince him to undergo a life-saving surgery.

For example, a cancer patient's children may ask a doctor not to tell their parent that he has cancer, as they are aware that the parent will refuse treatment if he knew about his condition.

In such a situation, a doctor may spend time talking to the family, rather than just the patient, to help the family understand the context in which the decision has to be made and why a surgery is necessary, he added.

But most of the MPs, including Dr Lim Wee Kiak (Sembawang GRC), said there should be adequate resources and manpower allocated to committees in charge of disciplinary proceedings.

Dr Lim asked if the Health Ministry could give more grants to the Singapore Medical Council (SMC) to offset the rise in cost with the setting up of more layers to handle public complaints.

He also suggested the SMC charge an administrative fee for people to file complaints.

Mr Ang suggested that doctors pay an annual fee to the SMC to cover the additional cost of handling patients' complaints.

Replying, Second Minister for Law Edwin Tong said the Health Ministry has said that it will not pass the additional cost of the new mechanisms to patients and as far as possible, not to doctors as well.

Grants have been given to the SMC to set up the new mechanisms and redeploy resources, he added, and they can be topped up, if more resources are needed.

Mr Pritam Singh (Aljunied GRC) and Mr Louis Ng (Nee Soon GRC) said doctors with limited consultation time for patients, owing to a heavy workload, may struggle to comply with the new statutory test set out in the Civil Law (Amendment) Bill.

To address these concerns, Dr Tan asked if quality data can be gathered to help doctors carry out their duties in keeping patients informed. This would, in turn, help in the planning of manpower for the clinic, its size and timings of consultation.

For instance, studies can be done to ascertain how much time is needed to adequately inform the average patient on a particular topic.

To this, Mr Tong assured MPs the Health Ministry takes seriously the issue of additional workload potentially undermining the quality of care.

"(But) that should not drive the way we define or formulate this test. We may have to find ways to put better resources in public hospitals or polyclinics, but... we must first focus and perhaps only focus on what is good for the patient and doctor in that relationship."

Anecdotal evidence, he added, does not indicate to him that the new test will increase a doctor's workload.

Still, the Government will examine if there are systemic issues that may be barriers to the medical profession adapting to the legislative changes, he added.