The State Courts charged Haridass Ramdass, a 75-year-old Singaporean doctor who operated a clinic in Chander Road in Little India at the time of the incident, with the death of a patient, Mr Savarimuthu Arul Xavier, 28. The death was allegedly caused by tablets Ramdass prescribed.
The charge was based on the patient being given a prescription of 10 tablets of methotrexate (MTX) without first arranging for him to undergo the required tests.
MTX is a chemotherapy agent and immune system suppressant. The dosage he prescribed was also not in line with established guidelines, according to the charge slapped on the doctor.
The case is apparently a first in which a doctor is charged with causing death by a rash act under Section 304A(a) of the Penal Code.
How it happened
Mr Xavier, a foreign national, was treated by Haridass on Nov 24, 2014, at Tekka Clinic Surgery, where he was given an injection of dexamethasone, a steroid used to treat ailments such as allergic or breathing disorders and skin conditions.
According to information found on the Internet, Haridass has been a general practitioner for 44 years and got his medical degree from India’s Karnataka University in 1971.
He is out on a S$10,000 bail and the case is scheduled to be raised in court in two weeks’ time.
A person convicted of causing death by a rash act not amounting to culpable homicide faces up to five years’ jail, a fine or both.-/TISG