SINGAPORE — A 39-year-old doctor has been charged with molesting at least three teenagers and defrauding Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS).
The defendant Dr Lim Yong Chin is the founder and managing director of Access Medical Clinics. He faces a total of 28 charges, 15 of which allege that he defrauded the National Healthcare Group Polyclinics and SingHealth Polyclinics to issue payments for CHAS through false claims. Other charges include: molesting underage girls, secretly filming, driving with a revoked license and without car insurance.
According to court documents, between 2018 and 2020, Dr Lim was accused of secretly filming two women, both 19 years old, without their consent. One of whom was having an “intimate” relationship with him at the time.
He was also accused of touching the private parts of a 14-year-old girl several times in 2021. The relationship between the two is unknown.
The court issued an injunction order to protect the victim’s identity, but denied the defendant’s lawyer’s request to prevent the media from reporting the client’s name.
Dr Lim is currently released on bail of $120,000 yuan pending trial, and he will appear in court again on the 15th of next month.
In 2018, the Ministry of Health (MOH) served notices of suspension of the Community Health Assist Scheme (CHAS) participation of 10 Access Medical clinics. MOH said at that time that audits by MOH on the CHAS claims made by these clinics have revealed severe non-compliance. These clinics had over a period of time variously made numerous non-compliant CHAS claims such as claims for patient visits or chronic conditions with no relevant supporting documentation.
MOH added that it takes a serious view of errant practices in making CHAS claims. We have referred this case to the Police, and will also be referring specific doctors involved to the Singapore Medical Council for further investigation. Once suspended, these clinics can continue to provide medical treatment, but the treatment they provide will not be covered by CHAS subsidies.
Introduced in 2012, CHAS provides subsidies for medical and dental care to Singapore Citizens from lower- to middle-income households, as well as all Pioneer Generation members, at participating General Practitioner (GP) and dental clinics. Today, about 1.3 million Singaporeans have a CHAS or PG card, and they can receive subsidised care at about 1000 GP and 700 dental CHAS clinics islandwide.
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